Every great artist bends light to their will, not slavishly copying a scene. In my online painting lesson, you’ll discover the power of orchestrating light and shade to shine a spotlight on your center of interest. Once you see it happen you’ll be able to use this technique in every painting you do from now on. This is what most beginner paintings are missing.
Rees Valley in New Zealand
Richard Robinson, Mountain Stream, oil on board, 12 x 14” (30 x 35 cm)
In the following pages are several critiques from the “Mountain Stream Workshop.”
Student critiques
Mountain stream, oil on canvas, 16 x 19½” (40 x 50 cm)
Elena Sokolova
Great work as usual, Elena. Strong clear color, bold brushwork and good shape design. The only tweak I’d make is to lose or reduce some of the spots on your yellow tree on the right. I’m guilty of too many large spots on mine too—should be softer. Put that in a frame!
Mountain Stream, acrylic on primed paper, 12 x 16” (30 x 40 cm)Adana Virna
Lovely expressive style, Adana! I admire calligraphic brushwork like this that seems to dance across the canvas. The only thing I’d change is in the shadow sides of the orange tussocks to make the transition from mid orange to darkest dark a little softer, either with soft edged brushwork or a darker transitional color between the two. My rule of thumb is that all transitions within shadows should be soft edged. Anyway, I love it! Looks like you enjoyed painting it.
Mountain Stream, acrylic on canvas Rachel Chard
Hey Rachel, you’ve got some good work in here! You’ve created a sense of depth, and your shapes are interesting and defined well. It’s trickier with acrylics to get those gradations and soft blends behaving like with oils. I can see you’re working to get those right. You’ll find that has a lot to do with speed, because as soon as you start painting over dry layers you’ll get that gravelly broken paint rather than a smooth transition. You’ll find then, that if you painted this a second time, building each section at a time from sky to foreground, you’d be able to work faster and avoid layers drying on you. (This is the second time I’ve painted this one.) It’s a shame the mountain got smushed and softened as that’s supposed to be the payoff for the end of the eye’s journey through the painting. Seems like you might need some new, crisp brushes to be able to create some sharper shapes. It’s worth it! Looking forward to seeing your next one too.
Mountain Stream, oil on canvas, 12 x 16” (30 x 40 cm) Nancy Newton
I can see a strong sense of light in this one, Nancy, with high contrast, high chroma warm lights versus dark subdued shadows. Nice! The transition in the water from light to dark is particularly well done.
Ian States
The light and the majesty Wow, nice job, Ian. Great drawing, nice contrasts between smooth areas and impasto details, natural looking shapes and a strong sense of light. I like the slightly stronger contrast in the mountain, which brings it closer to us. Beautiful!
About Your Tutor
Richard Robinson is one of New Zealand’s premier outdoor painters. You can view his extensive online lessons at mypaintingclub.com.