Comments on: Plein Air Painting from John Taft Workshop http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/ Fine Art and Photography by Lee Brown Fri, 11 May 2012 17:03:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Lee http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-194 Lee Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:07:40 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-194 I wanted to post some feedback that I recently received from friend and artist Randy Saffle. I appreciate critical feedback and thought others may learn from his insights on this piece. Below is Randy's feedback with minor edits. Thanks Randy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good job Lee. Glad to have you back. I use a limited palette also. A cool & warm version of red, yellow and blue plus white. Always mixing the greens. I only use Viridian or Thalo Green to add a little punch to the mix or to grey out a color. Greens are tricky. You did a very good job, especially considering this was your first Plein Air outing. It sounded like you had a fun mixture of weather and lighting to deal with. I consider you a friend and have a critique of your latest post for you. I am in no way an expert and this is only my opinion. One of the best things I get from knowing other painters is sharing advice and opinions. There are a few spots in the picture that I can offer some tips on... The green field on the right is too close to the green at the base of the hill and creates a horizontal band straight across. I think you could have lightened the value of the middle right ground to create more depth and help lead the eye through the painting. I feel the right distant mountain top could have been softer where it meets the sky. It has a hard edge to it. Also, the distant mountain could use a few tonal changes so it is not such a large solid mass. Adding some heavier more textured strokes in the foreground would make that area come forward and also add depth. Texture brings things forward. The little rocks at the right are a little bright and draw my eye towards them. Adding some more muted values to them and moving those colors around the foreground would help. Also the sky seems to have a little of the green mixed into it on the left side. Keep your sky colors as clean as possible. I like all of the colors you put into the rocks, especially the light purples at the base area. The greens do look very good. I think mixing them was the right idea. Your composition is real nice. It is a very good job!!! I bet Taft didn't critique as hard as I did. :?) I wanted to post some feedback that I recently received from friend and artist Randy Saffle. I appreciate critical feedback and thought others may learn from his insights on this piece.

Below is Randy’s feedback with minor edits. Thanks Randy!

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Good job Lee. Glad to have you back.

I use a limited palette also. A cool & warm version of red, yellow and blue plus white. Always mixing the greens. I only use Viridian or Thalo Green to add a little punch to the mix or to grey out a color. Greens are tricky. You did a very good job, especially considering this was your first Plein Air outing. It sounded like you had a fun mixture of weather and lighting to deal with.

I consider you a friend and have a critique of your latest post for you. I am in no way an expert and this is only my opinion. One of the best things I get from knowing other painters is sharing advice and opinions.

There are a few spots in the picture that I can offer some tips on…

The green field on the right is too close to the green at the base of the hill and creates a horizontal band straight across. I think you could have lightened the value of the middle right ground to create more depth and help lead the eye through the painting.

I feel the right distant mountain top could have been softer where it meets the sky. It has a hard edge to it. Also, the distant mountain could use a few tonal changes so it is not such a large solid mass.

Adding some heavier more textured strokes in the foreground would make that area come forward and also add depth. Texture brings things forward.

The little rocks at the right are a little bright and draw my eye towards them. Adding some more muted values to them and moving those colors around the foreground would help.

Also the sky seems to have a little of the green mixed into it on the left side. Keep your sky colors as clean as possible.

I like all of the colors you put into the rocks, especially the light purples at the base area. The greens do look very good. I think mixing them was the right idea. Your composition is real nice.

It is a very good job!!! I bet Taft didn’t critique as hard as I did. :? )

]]> By: Lee http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-192 Lee Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:02:30 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-192 Hi Diana. I hope you are enjoying your time in the US. Thanks for the tip on the book. I will check it out. FYI, I was born in England. My mum is english and my dad was from NY! When I go to Spain, I will have to drop you an email for travel tips! Hi Diana. I hope you are enjoying your time in the US. Thanks for the tip on the book. I will check it out. FYI, I was born in England. My mum is english and my dad was from NY! When I go to Spain, I will have to drop you an email for travel tips!

]]> By: Diana Marshall http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-191 Diana Marshall Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:51:35 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-191 It must be wonderful to attend a work shop and learn so much from such a great artist. The greens in your piece look very believable and natural, I mix my greens too, there are many combinations of yellows,blues,ochres a black etc that give a variety of greens. There is a series of books called 'The Oil (watercolor,pastel,etc) Painters Pallette' that illustrates the combinations, and is useful for mixing all sorts of colors too. It must be wonderful to attend a work shop and learn so much from such a great artist. The greens in your piece look very believable and natural, I mix my greens too, there are many combinations of yellows,blues,ochres a black etc that give a variety of greens. There is a series of books called ‘The Oil (watercolor,pastel,etc) Painters Pallette’ that illustrates the combinations, and is useful for mixing all sorts of colors too.

]]> By: Lee http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-190 Lee Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:18:10 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-190 Thanks Ric. I see the exercise of painting in flat light as good experience. I would not normally chose to paint in that light but we did not have much choice that day. I think the experience may have helped me see better in good light as well. Thanks for the comment on the palette. I actually saw this as a small victory considering the garishness of some of my paintings last year. Progress I guess! Thanks Ric. I see the exercise of painting in flat light as good experience. I would not normally chose to paint in that light but we did not have much choice that day. I think the experience may have helped me see better in good light as well. Thanks for the comment on the palette. I actually saw this as a small victory considering the garishness of some of my paintings last year. Progress I guess!

]]> By: Lee http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-189 Lee Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:14:09 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-189 Hi Stacey. Thanks for sharing your palette insights. I am learning that I probably bought way to many tubes of color just starting out. I guess they may come in handy someday when looking for the perfect color that I just cant mix. I read recently that Scott Christensen uses a very limited palette and his pieces are gorgeous! Hi Stacey. Thanks for sharing your palette insights. I am learning that I probably bought way to many tubes of color just starting out. I guess they may come in handy someday when looking for the perfect color that I just cant mix. I read recently that Scott Christensen uses a very limited palette and his pieces are gorgeous!

]]> By: Ric http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-185 Ric Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:58:36 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-185 Flat light is always challenging no matter what your media of choice is. There are rare occasions when it can work to your advantage but when trying to create something conveying a lot of depth it's particularly difficult. I really like your color palette in this painting. It feels very natural. Flat light is always challenging no matter what your media of choice is. There are rare occasions when it can work to your advantage but when trying to create something conveying a lot of depth it’s particularly difficult.

I really like your color palette in this painting. It feels very natural.

]]> By: Stacey Peterson http://adaynotwasted.com/2009/06/plein-air-painting-from-john-taft-workshop/comment-page-1/#comment-184 Stacey Peterson Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:24:06 +0000 http://adaynotwasted.com/?p=845#comment-184 Sounds like you got a lot out of the workshop, and some nice paintings too! I used to have viridian on my palette and got rid of it for the same reasons - it's so strong that it's hard to dull down enough unless you mix in a ton of red. I still put a dot of it on my palette, but only use it occasionally to give my skies some brightness. It can work, but it requires a lot of extra mixing and care, so I figure why bother? Sounds like you got a lot out of the workshop, and some nice paintings too! I used to have viridian on my palette and got rid of it for the same reasons – it’s so strong that it’s hard to dull down enough unless you mix in a ton of red. I still put a dot of it on my palette, but only use it occasionally to give my skies some brightness. It can work, but it requires a lot of extra mixing and care, so I figure why bother?

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