Painted the pond picture on Sunday right before we left. Like the pattern the birch trees made against the darker background. I think I managed to get the backlit effect in the grasses around the birches.
Painted the 2 field pictures on Saturday. Colors got darker toward sundown. In the middle of the day colors were kind of hazy.
Attended a critique by Lorin Willey at AC Art Association. He's an international artist specializing in impressionist landscapes with a show coming up at the Schauer Center. Couldn't find his website.
He wanted to know our intent in painting a painting. Told us to avoid using pure white
in our paintings. One way to get around it is to mix a middle and light value of each color. Doing abstracts based on a theme or thought, larger is better, is a good way to key into your internal math/rhythm. Foreground grasses are usually soft because we look about 20 yards out. He says go slow to finish fast which means study and plan what you're going to paint. He said start from outside and bring your palette inside to finish a painting inside. Don't worry about finishing it outside just paint and enjoy nature. He knew a lot about art history. Sky is usually the lightest, then the ground while object perpendicular to the ground are darker. He could tell when people painted from a photo because photos have dark lines and more contrast than life. Vary values of painting to create depth. Both portraits critiqued tonight had subject to right side with left eye in center.
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