Susan's Barn

 Here is Susan's beautiful new landscape painting featuring a weathered barn. I think it's very successful.

 Here is the photo Susan worked with.

 She had concerns about the perspective on the barn. I think that she did a good job of finding the horizon line. It can be a bit of challenge to find the horizon linen or eye line as it's also referred to. It's easier in cases like this where you have elements that you know are supposed to be level. This can give you lines to follow, in this case the roof lines of both the ridge and the eaves. The windows and doors are also used here. We can't see the bottom of the barn to pick up a line from the foundation. We look for where the lines intersect to tell us where the horizontal eye line is. As long as you're in the ballpark, especially on something like this building which has settled and sagged a little it's usually fine.

I have only a few comments on Susan's piece that I might consider.

First, I think that her crop is really interesting. I could maybe see having a little more room behind the back left of the barn by moving it slightly to the right but it doesn't feel uncomfortable where it is. I like the decision to keep the barn high in the painting. It gives it a little more drama. This wouldn't have been as successful if she hadn't created just the right amount of energy in the large foreground. The grass is interesting without being distracting or overwhelming.

1. Creating the sweeping alley from the bottom edge of the painting up to the barn is well conceived and executed.

2. I might lighten and cool the dark trees just a bit. That would leave the darkest shapes in our main focus, the barn, under the roof for the hay and in the windows and eaves.

The biggest thing I might consider is cooling the barn down by painting it the color of the weathered grey wood. The example on top is a little cooler and the one below it leaves a little more of the current warm color coming through. I feel that this would highlight the main subject while maintaining the harmony of the painting.

Overall, a really nice job.