QC Oil Painting A Tale of Two Paintings

I spent the last week working on a painting, New Mexico Evening, in a new style for me, or at least a style I have not employed for awhile. It's more impressionistic or colorist in an attempt to push my colors.  Here are the stages of the painting:

New Mexico Evening:

Original Refernce Painting from a few years ago

Transparent wash

Beginning with white. I decided that I didn't like the wild sky, so I wiped it out along with most of the right hand ground plane:

Format of clouds changed: and dark right bush added back,while eliminating the row of trees on the right:

Posted painting below, after adding texture:

New Mexico Sunset, version posted on Facebook and emailed to my students for critique

I posted this painting on Facebook, soliciting suggestions for improvement (in private messages if desired). I also emailed this to my students for critique.

This is the posting, Facebook comments and private messages and the email:

• New painting: I need your help. I have been having a painter's block and needed to do something different. So, I created this painting, based on an older, smaller one I did that I rather liked. Please let me know if you like this painting or if not, please give me some honest critique (in a private FB message or email if you prefer). I used a palette knife in the last stages extensively. Did I overdo it? I am leaving the painting alone for awhile before evaluating it for possible additions/corrections. It's 12x16, oil on linen. I might consider doing a larger version with some old NM homes in the distance perhaps, adding some mountain layers and varying them more.

The response was very valuable: many good suggestions and comments.  I am listing the suggestions here verbatim without crediting them until I get permission to do so (with my name in front of any comments or replies to comments from me):

• Calming, but I get a sense of movement from the water.
• ...being from Honolulu I love the water which you have put in here
• Comment from me at this point: Karen: I think the perspective of the water might be off, at least from the image on the screen. I will study it tomorrow. This is a NM acequia, an irrigation ditch. I took liberties with it changing it from a straight ditch to a curvy one. But I think it should get more narrow faster as it recedes.
•  Anonymous: I think you're right about the water. It's not receding in part because the width in not narrowing or making it lay flat. Also, the left area near the trees in pretty heavy and pulling the eye. More space might help. I am not sure what it's about as there is pretty even emphasis by way of texture and temperature on the three key elements of sky, land, and water. Some cooler tones on land as it recedes might bring in the necessary perspective. Just some observations...  
• reply from Karen: Watch for updates with your suggestions implemented I hope. By the way, I was trying to use a cooler yellow in the distant land (with a pointillist technique) but it didn't work. Perhaps now since it's drier. And if I could manage natural looking sky-holes I think I could make the tree less massive. Perhaps I'll just scrape a little off. See my comment to Lee: my trees do tend to grow larger on me as I paint them. I think I have to modify my initial wash-in for the trees; it is too heavy in general so that the lighter value does not blend in with it easily.... I was trying to create space by cooling off the elements as they recede but my heavy palette knife technique counters that when I apply it to the mountains. I did want the sky to have more interest than perhaps it should have. We are always told that a painting should either be a sky painting or not. But I also wanted the fields to have a lot of interesting texture and was playing with that more than usual. I actually wiped out some trees to simplify the foreground, but that left the one lone tree to stand out too much. I just might have fun playing with a variety of compositions and emphases..... Thanks again for your valuable suggestions.
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• Anonymous: As the water recedes it should get narrower. Otherwise, looks great. Easy for the non invested painter to say:) A friend saved a painting by pointing out I was off the golden mean.... Not by a lot, but enough. Funny how hard it can be to see this.  Referring to the most distant part of the water
• Karen's reply: It's funny you should mention the golden mean. I do always try to put the focal point at the golden mean, but cheat by trying for the thirds instead. Of course, since the panels are not in a golden ratio it's hard anyway to find the mean so that it makes sense. I've tried buying 10x16's and 5x8's panels and frames, but I have so many others..... But, here's the problem: I might start out well-intentioned but something takes over while I am painting, and things like the focal point move on me and the horizon line creeps up toward the middle and the trees touch the edges (just), etcetera, and I am so caught up in the paint strokes (and the color and the value) that I lose the composition, and this is even when I pause to back up every 20 minutes and take photos. Another example is the water. I tried to make it sparkle using my palette knife and just ended up adding to the water and it's now 'wide' at the top. This at least is an easy fix. Thank you for pointing it out (the most distant part).
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• The foreground water is absolutely beautiful and true! Don't touch it...maybe the light colored water needs a more gradual transition from dark to light and perhaps lowering the light shape of the water would help it lay down. I am struggling with a similar water problem...that's why I so admire your foreground water...so wet! Nice Painting.
  

  Unlike · Reply · 1 · March 10 at 11:20pm
  

  Karen Halbert I tried not to touch the foreground water in my changes. I will be sending you and other commentators my revised version. I should not have touched this one at all and started anew (of course), but I thought I could get away with a minor change. Then that lead to another and so on and so forth!!? But I am enjoying the experience and trying to learn from it. Isn't' painting fun? But hard work too. Thanks for your kind remarks. Your paintings are spectacular and I appreciate your input.

• Anonymous: I like this painting a lot.  I love the contrast of the complementary orange and blues and purple and yellow,  and the location of the dark masses of the trees.  IN fact the trees and ground are very effective and very well done..  It is definitely impressionistic.  My eye stays in the painting for a very long time.  
  My eye goes right to the curvy purple mountain but it seems too curvy and i don’t understand the gray line on it.   It might need some definition.   The water in the foreground seems to be going downhill to the left.  And I feel the clouds are too big for how far away they are.
  
  
  My eye travels to big purple mountain, then to the right purple mountains, and down then follows the water to the white highlight where it picks up the trees and leans back into the mountains.  Then I pick up the orange hill on the right, then right hand dark mass then into foreground water, then up to left orange bucket trees and back to curvy mountain.  This is definitely not a bland painting.
  
  
  On the whole, very beautiful
• Judy: I like your painting Karen,  It has more life.  I particularly like the sky and the colors. I like the foreground and the tree.  I think the river in the distance is too blue, but I would buy this painting. (Judy commented after seeing the second painting that I should have left the first one untouched and started over again. Lesson learned - I hope)
• Barb G: Wow!  Beautiful color--congratulations!
  I presume the focus is the sunlight hitting the left bank and the bend in the river.  Contrasts are good.  For some reason, the river doesn't seem to recede.  Perhaps it's too light all the way back to the bend?  The nearer part of the river is perfect and beautiful.
  The left bank grabs the most attention for me.  I put my hand over it, and then partially covered it, and I decided I would give it less mass since it is bright color.  By that I mean I would leave that good color there, and use more subdued color coming over from the trees toward the right.  Then the bright bank can drop a couple of inches in the bright color where the sun hits a more vertical plane dropping to the river.  I hope this makes sense.  Your sky is lovely, too.  Hope this helps.
• Anonymous: A NM Sunset painting has great enchantment in an Impressionistic landscape. It is that very impressionism that can catch you up with a realistic enough view. The fun & love of adding "spots" of new color brings a pointillism of the palette knife into the view. The contrast is really good with a focus of spreading late light across the land to the tree. I wonder how Karen feels about this painting after Phil S. talk on trees? So much of what we do as painters is the struggle & this painting does not have that sense. A lot of good things happened with this painting after years of study you stepped aside and let your espirit playfully assist you in creating a good painting.    
  Karen: My email response to this: I don't think I responded to you.  My apologies.  I enjoyed reading your comment. And you got the main point of what I was  attempting. Thanks.  I do feel that after viewing Phil's video my trees are not airy enough. I attribute this problem to my attempt to put in a very dark underpainting for a tree or bush. Then when i try to put the mid-tone and the light values in, I cover up even more.  I need to work on this, creating the first main dark layer with more restraint for the trees.

  Thanks for your welcome comments,

  Karen

  
  

And more from private messages on Facebook:

Anonymous: About your 12x16 painting. I really like the clouds, water and distant hills. As a suggestion, I'd lighten the right hand orange bank as the water turns the corner. That way, it will give a better sense of distance. Also the left tree is a lovely shape and clearly is the center of interest., But maybe it's a little too dark in the shadow -- too much like the front right bush, even though they're quite a distance apart. You could simplify and darken the front green bush, except for the reflected light coming up underneath from the water. Overall, a very nice painting and it has a calming aspect to it. Miss you!

If you do a larger one with old NM homes in the distance, that will become your center of interest rather than the left tree. So, think about how that changes things. I wouldn't add a lot of mountain layers as you'd then be competing with the beautiful flow of the water. smile emoticon

FRI 10:08AM

Thank you so much for your excellent suggestions. I am studying the painting now with your ideas in mind. In fact, I didn't want the left tree to be the center of interest, but I obviously made it so, especially since I put the dominant yellow part of the sky right next to it.I think I will try lightening it a little with more sky holes. The problem is that it should also be moved away from the edge and that is not going to happen in this painting. the photo is somewhat cropped so next time you see it, you will see a little more air on the left. I intend now to make it clear that the mountain is also extending to the left. That's the part that's cropped off, but in any case a frame would cover the space there!?? Oh well, next painting. in any case, I wanted to balance the tree with a bush on the lower right; I will try warmer/darker/simpler for the right bush, but have some water reflect into the bottom as you suggest to give it some interest. And I meant for the NM homes to simply provide atmosphere and not be the center of interest. But I would have to be very careful about that.

From Dee. Karen, I think it would look cool really lowering the mountains a bit so they are not so much a focal point. Love the foreground!

FRI 10:18AM

Great idea. And that way, the mountain tops are not at the halfway point in the painting

Dee: You are brave - I hate putting up anything for critique

FRI 11:41AM

Well, I am doing this partially since I am teaching a small class (actually it's more of a tutorial) and I am trying to show the participants that it's good to enjoy painting and to experiment (but with guidelines of course). This post has been a lot of fun. More on this later...

Chat Conversation End

Seen Fri 11:41am

From Roger Williams: Hi Karen:

I think when one gets artist block, you should just take a break away from painting for a few days. that always works for me and just change your thought patterns away from thinking you have a block. As far as your painting goes, The comments about the perspective are on the money. Just widen the river a bit where it first bottlenecks. You have two large green shapes on each side that are very similar in size. I would pull the right shape up above the horizon a bit and do it trying to make it look different from the other shape. That will also help the perspective. Just as the river turns you could break up the river with another tree shape to the left of center but carefully leave the river turning. I would actually put maybe three more green shapes Breaking the momentum of the river will help with the perspective also. we don't have to see all of the river. A bit more green in the orange grass might help as well. The shapes in the sky are nice. I hope this helps! Happy painting!

Wonderful suggestions. i welcome your valuable input. And i think I could do your suggestions without damaging the painting. I had been thinking of narrowing the river, but I like your idea of widening it. By the first bottleneck do you mean just above the dark part on the left in the river where the left 'orange' cliff first just out? I am going to try something with photoshop before I touch paint to the canvas (panel). Thank you again for taking the time and for providing me with such excellent suggestions. Oh, and I did take a break from painting for a couple of weeks. Now I am back to it.

Yes that is where I would widen it. Just do it all with a smile and know that it is a gift to be able to paint and solve these wonderful picture puzzles. :^)

FRI 11:39AM

Thank you, Roger! Actually, I didn't take the time to analyze further; I wanted to make the suggested changes ... And part of why I posted this on Facebook is that I am encouraging my students to experiment, but using guidelines that we all know (but sometimes don't follow) and above all to enjoy the experience. And I like your expression, that it is a gift to be able to paint and solve picture puzzles. I might be taking the time to put all the tips that have been offered onto my blog for my students to read. i will ask if it's all right first of all to include the suggestions verbatim, and then if so, to attach the author's name. I could just use a pseudo name, initials or 'anonymous'. Thank you again.

Anonymous: Hi Karen, What do you want your focal point to be?

3:33PM

I wanted it to be the sunlit sky to the right but I see that the left-hand tree is overwhelming. I have changed the painting (too much) making the focal point closer to the tree, while minimizing the tree somewhat. And a lot more. New photo to be posted soon.

Joyce Hartsfield I'm afraid I can't help. I like everything you paint.

Like · Reply · March 11 at 7:40am

Heidi Washburn What Joyce said.

Like · Reply · March 11 at 12:58pm

Karen Halbert Joyce and Heidi, I have had several very valuable responses, here and in private messages. It's been a real joy to read them and to share tips on painting. But i value your feedback, if only to say how much you like it. I will be posting a revised painting soon, though I'm afraid I should not have touched this one and instead should have started on a new one. Well, I am going to have fun working on several renditions of this New Mexico theme. And I am keeping track of changes....

Like · Reply · March 11 at 2:53pm

Jill Hartley I,too, agree with Joyce and Heidi! Love your work and enjoy talking shop with you.

Like · Reply · Just now

WOW!! So many excellent responses, so helpful and what fun to read. Thank you, everyone.

And now on to the second version. Unfortunately I didn't follow my own advice: start over again and keep the first as a reference. Well I have plenty of photos that you are seeing here.  Here are the stages for my second version following suggestions from above:

Widened the river foreground and made the far water thinner. ADDED TOO MANY LIGHT BLUE "SPARKLES" IN THE FOREGROUND WATER. Tried to put in a tree on the right breaking the horizon with a few others breaking the river line.  Thinned out the left hand tree. Brightened the sky above the mountain, making the tree/sun/mountain the focal point I hope, and at one of the 'thirds'" intersections or even at the golden mean, though there's really no golden spiral spiraling to it.  Actually this is more of an "S-shaped" composition. So perhaps I should have switched the direction of the mountain peak to make the river really lead to it. Well, so much time, so little to do.....

Differentiated between the upper right tree and the right-hand bush

Added some color to the lower right cloud. Lowered the mountain top. Plus...

Removed red cast of the cloud (it just didn't work for me). Added more green into the fields, some red touches on right hand weeds...

FINAL VERSION:

Final Version: modified the red touches and added some additional cloud forms.

So, here's the final version.  I needed to stop but I had fun doing this.

However:....

Removed a few light blur ripples in the front to try to revert to my first version on the foreground water..  AND THIS IS THE FINAL FINAL VERSION OF
New Mexico Evening, 12x16, oil on linen

NEXT STEPS:
I will now do several thumb-nail sketches with different compositions and focal points.  And then some color studies perhaps of different times of day and THEN a final LARGE version with some added details (distant nm homes with chimney smoke for example-and candle light in the windows of course, perhaps some cows or horses drinking at the river-side (just kidding here,) perhaps a lone fisherman, a teepee with inside light, etcetera, and finally, my dog, Chili, romping in the field doing his end-of-day exercise.

I think I lost some touches of purple in the grass to pull the sky and foreground together, ........, here I go. No more changes!!

Well instead as a computer geek i decided to play with photoshop, changing my painting.  This was also fun for me.  What do you think of the new possibilities here?