Paradise, in New Zealand, is one of my favorite painting spots anywhere on the planet. It was a beautiful day when I worked on this painting. We headed up to Paradise and painted to our hearts content. My friend, artist John Crump, helped with a key comment close to the finish—I had a big green tree on the left that I’d been battling with (which looked like a party of sea sponges) and John asked me why I’d painted it. “Because it’s there!” I laughed, because I instantly realized I’d been sucked into replicating the scene—feeling obligated to paint what’s in front of me rather than using my artistic license. Great to have knowledgeable friends to give you pointers out there!
Five minutes later the green “sponges” were gone and a wintery brown tree had grown in its place. Much better!
I was concentrating more here on the shapes that compose a painting. Shape variety above all. For instance, no tree is exactly the same shape or size, no edge of the mountain exactly parallel to those behind it, no cloud nor sheep cloned. At least, that’s the theory. If you can just remember that it’s our brain’s tendency to make replicating patterns and to oversimplify then you can start to work around that. Perhaps leave a note on your easel, “Variety!”
Student Critiques
Painting paradise
Mark Price
Hey Mark, great painting. Solid drawing, interesting brushwork and strong color. I’d just suggest that you lighten and blue the colors more into the distant mountains, adding more depth. Also you could do with practicing the shapes of the snow in shadow and light. As can I. Have a good look at how John Crump does that. Copy a few of them and then do the same with a few photos. It’s trickier than it looks, of course, to translate all the intricacies of a snow clad mountain into a simplified version on canvas. By focusing on those for a while you’ll get the hang of it and figure out your own visual shorthand for it.
Second go, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. At least I hope I succeeded this timeNancy Murray
Hi Nancy, good effort on this painting. Lots of work gone in I can see. Overall the color works well, and there are sections of nice painterly brushwork and the drawing is not half bad. Beware leaving those dark contrasty lines in the mountains that attract the eye. Ask yourself why they would be darker than any other shadow on that mountain. They wouldn’t. Also ask yourself why shadows in the distant mountains would be darker than shadows in the foreground hills. Again, they wouldn’t. Those in the foreground need to be darkened. Similarly, the shadow sides of the sheep need to be darker for a better sense of light and form. Look at your tree as well, which seems too symmetrical and pruned for a natural specimen. Making it less regular gives it more character and interest. Happy painting!
Paradise, oil on canvas, 11 x 14" (27 x 35 cm)Nancy Newton
Great bold painterly work, Nancy. There’s a lot of contrast in value and warms/cools in there that’s quite striking. I do like how your left-most mountains are so big they’re cropped at the top, but I’d like to see those pushed clean out the top rather than trying to squeeze them in there. The cropping gives a great sense of scale, like they are so big they can’t even fit. Nice.
Paradise in Oils V:2Geoffrey Geeson
Geoffrey, this is all good. I’d only change one thing and that’s the brushwork of the sunlit snow on the mountains. It just seems disproportionately thicker and textured than the rest of the painting. It’s great to try these things, and if you like that I’d encourage you to continue, but for me the texture is too different from the rest of the painting, which is all brushed on rather than dabbed on. There’s my two cents. Otherwise, love it!
PARADISEKimberly Woodman
Lovely work, Kimberly. Great color, brushwork and drawing. I’d just like to see a little more care with some of the edges to sharpen them up and provide a little more clarity. I’m specifically looking at the left-hand edge of the mountain that could be brought forward by sharpening and thereby giving the valley beyond it more depth.
Paradise, acrylicIsabel Gibson
Nice work Isabel. The drawing is good, the overall color scheme is nice and warm due to your shadowed snow being more neutral gray than blue gray, and your brushwork is bold and painterly. Good to see. Three things I’d like to tweak: Make less contrast and more blue in the colors in the mountains receding into the distance. If you squint at mine, you can see those colors blend together into a blue gray because they’re all very close to each other in hue and value. Squint at yours and you can still see those dark greens popping out. They’re too dark and not blue-gray enough. Easy to fix. Secondly, while you’re there, be mindful to avoid leaving little lines along the edges of the mountains that give them a slightly outlined look. Outlining objects is the quickest way to flatten a scene, and we don’t want that in this painting that’s all about creating depth. Lastly, a small thing too, the edges of the shadows in the long grass cast by the tallest tree need to be more soft-edged and grassy. And if you vary the long dark shape on the top edge of that hill more it’ll look less like an outline as well. Hope that helps.