Silala Painters Week Four Final Painting Gallery

Here are a handful finished or nearly finished  paintings that Ya'll have been working on. I'm proud of the results you're all achieving.

 This is Leah's final painting of the banks of the Seine. This piece has come a long way. I really like the light and the effect of the perspective of the rocks and trees as they get further from the viewer.

This is Barbara's floral painting. She has created a unique piece based on flora in her garden. It is very difficult to create a painting from separate parts or the essence of different pieces to create a cohesive whole. I think that this is really well done. I might add a few of the small red flowers into the space into the middle background. I am pulled to the center of the painting near the large horizontal leaf and the central cluster of flowers. A handful of red flowers behind and to the left of these will integrate the piece.

 Here Heidi has reworked her painting of a patio in Mexico. I like the integration of the bold colors of the flags into the area below. The perspective is much stronger. The overall color is very pleasing. The only thing I might consider changing is the scale of the table and chairs. They would be larger.
I really like the middle area to the right of the fountain. The fountain itself is looking pretty good. The feeling is very inviting.

 Here is Marilyn's finished painting of flowers and apples on a table. I really like the way that there are several interesting elements but they all support the red flowers in the upper right third of the painting. The shape of the background almost forms a spotlight for the vase full of flowers. Notice the way the yellow glasses lead to the flowers. The colors harmonize quite well in this painting.











Here is the acrylic version of Lonna's friend's barn. It's very successful. Her work has really paid off.

 This pastel version of the barn could only use a little straightening of the horizontal lines. I love the color of the barn and the variety of the greens in the foliage as well as the controlled but expressive marks. Great job.

 Here is the final version of Lonna's pastel inspired by Susan's painting. The trees are greatly improved here and nicely support the barn. The flattening of the ground in front of the barn helps the viewer feel comfortable. Also, when we're painting subjects like this, we need to think about the practical stuff like the way a flat ground  in front of the barn is necessary to go in and out of and load a barn.
Nicely done.

A few artists to look at

This is pastel artist Jacob Aguiar. I shared him a few years ago. I like his pastel marks and generally his color. His work can be found here: https://www.jacobaguiar.com/

This is Zufar Bikbov. I like how he paints economically. That is, often letting the underpainting come through and not using too much paint. This isn't how I paint but I can appreciate it and just want to share other methods. He's primarily a plein air painter. There are several solid pieces in his portfolio on his website. https://www.zufar.com/

Heidi's acrylic painting of a courtyard garden in Mexico

 Here is Heidi's latest painting. It's from a photo of an experience in Mexico.

I like the color and overall feel. the photo is below. It is in a vertical format. Heidi has chosen to paint the scene in a horizontal format. It features her son Grant. He's a big guy which gives us a sense of the scale of the place. Heidi has chosen to show the courtyard after Grant went to the pool.






Here is Heidi's initial sketch in pen. She has captured the essence of this sketch in her painting.

 The banners give the scene a lot of color beyond the green plants, the sienna floor tiles and the flowers around the fountain. Notice that in the photo, the width of the fountain occupies more than half of the bottom of the space. Heidi worried that the color in the banners in her painting might dominate the painting if they were too bright. I don't think they are too bright, especially if there are spots of related color below as in the flowers around the fountain and in the flowers on the table.








Here are some Photoshopped notes to consider

 1. Notice the perspective of the floor line and the line of the balcony. I've indicated it flatter than in the photo but it is greater than in the painting.
2. I'd look at the scale of the patio furniture.
3.I think that the flowers in the poto provide an opportunity to ad color that helps tie in the top and bottom of the painting.
4. I've cut back the plants around the fountain to make it feel a bit more prominent. In the photo the fountain is substantially larger, both taller and wider. I'd consider increasing the size of the fountain.
5. Notice that the flags that are closer and larger than tose further behind and that they overlap.
6. I'd consider having some of the plants near the edge go out of frame so as not to create an alley.
7. Consider overlapping some of the plants, imposing on the structure behind it. I would also consider imposing on the structure more than I've indicated with a few of the flags.
8. Notice the nice reflection in the water of the fountain in the photo.

Overall this is a really good pass on a complex subject. I think it's well painted and Heidi has handled the acrylic well. I feel it can be a little more dynamic by increasing the angles of the perspective and pushing the scale of some of the objects. The color is nice as is but could also be a bit bolder as well. Remember it's easier to subdue bright colors a little than to bring the color up.

Georgia's still life of a green vase and tomatoes

 Here is Georgia's latest striking painting. The initial impression is of beautiful color. Notice the yellow bridge between the red and green color. And though the red /green compliments can be kind of Christmas-y, in this case, the cooler green keeps the color relationship fresh without being cliched.

This could be considered an interesting painting and finished as is.

 Here is Georgia's set up. I've indicated a few lines to show where, on the main stage plane, the primary objects lie.

 This is Georgia's set up and really nice value block in.












I did a little bit in Photoshop to show a few things I might consider working on.


The number of notes on a painting in no way suggests that a painting is not successful or working on many levels.

Here are the notes:

1. I've pulled the tomato on the right towards us and increased the size a little. In the original the tomato is floating just a bit.
2. I notice in the photo the curved reflection of the shadow on the ground surface. The darker shape is a nice graphic shape leading to the tomato .
3. Notice that the shadow is mostly lighter.
4. Notice the reflection of the yellow fabric on the underside of the tomato.
5. A slightly lighter shadow here as well.
6. The reflection on the vase of the tomato is more pronounced.
7. Notice a cooler, reflected ambient light on the upper right side the closer tomato.
8. Notice that the shadows emanate from the leaves in front and to the left of the vase.
9. Consider bringing the leaves sitting behind the vase to the front of the vase.
10. I'd consider engaging the the top edge a little more with another leaf or two in the character of the other leaves.
Notice that I've shaved some off of the lower left bottom of the base of the vase and added a reflection of the yellow fabric.  I also, added a little more to the to the reflection of the tomato on the left.
Georgia can of course, take all of this with a grain of salt and can implement any, or all, or none of these suggestions and have a fine painting.

Marilyn Flowers on a Table update week 3

Here is Marilyn's previous version of her painting of flowers on a table.



















Here's her latest version. As with many of Marilyn's paintings, I appreciate her unique vision and how she comes up with solutions that I might never think of. I really like the patterns on the wall behind the table. I also like the darker candles.
Some painters make their painting moves with their head, some with their heart and some with their gut. Most make decisions using varying combinations of these inclinations. We add experience and our tastes to create our style and working methods. Marilyn is an intuitive painter and it's been working for her for decades. Here's an example of why; a unique solution to to a somewhat static composition that continues to to get more interesting and that tells a bit of a story that leaves gaps for the viewer to fill in.



Here are a few notes, there are only a few:

1. a nice framing of the flowers to make them feel more prominent.
2. I might consider darkening this side of the table to pull it forward from the background.
3. I still feel that the legs and undersides of the table could be darker.
4. I might give the bowl of apples a bit more interest by making the color a little darker and intense.

I'm looking forward to seeing the final version of this piece and Marilyn does next.

Lonna's new barn painting

 I really like  Lonna's newest pastel barn paintings.
The one one the right is her first pass. The one on the left has a more level base and an altered roof line.
I like the darker color of the barn on the right as well as the hint of grasses in the foreground. Both roof lines are interesting.

 I think that if Lonna were to take another pass she might consider a more horizontal format as in the photo below. It would leave more air in the painting and wouldn't feel crowded from the trees on the left.

1. If the trees were backed away slightly we could see that the dark shapes on the barn are caused by the shadows from the trees in front of the barn.
2. I would give some breathing room between the tree and the barn in places.
3. I like the cool colors from the blue ambient light.
4. I straightened out the base of the barn.
5. I like the line of the trees here.



This horse has an alibi for that bank robbery it was suspected of back on the mid-morning of August 13th 2010. I hope you've shared this photo with the authorities.

Lonna's palm trees

 Here are two of Lonna's watercolor paintings of a palm tree on a patio overlooking the sea.

I love the loose watercolor painting in the trunk of the palm tree. The overall feeling is really nice.










Here is a second painting of the palm tree scene. It's distinctly different in several ways. The format is narrower, the horizon is slightly lower, the base of the tree is situated further down in the patio plane and there is more detail. The spit of land behind the tree, in the land down below is warmer. The fronds are looser and lighter slighter.

1.  I like the sweep of broad arcs these fronds make.
2. I like the relationship between the horizon and the trunk and where it widens.
3. Notice how this bush crosses above the horizon.
4.There is distance between the low wall and the base of the palm tree.
5. This small bush crosses over the wall. When objects overlap different planes it creates a sense of depth.
6. The ellipse of the circle around the base with the rocks is relatively flat.
 7. Notice the warm light on the land here.

This tree and foreground in this photo is darker than it would be if we were to be there.

Lonna's white barn

 Here is Lonna's pastel paintingof a white barn. It's inspired by one of Susan's paintings. I think it's very successful. The perspective and solidity of the barn is really good. The color is quite good as well.










I have only a few comments on this piece.  1. I might flatten the ground plane in front of the barn just a little, though the downward curving ground plane works fine. 2. I might consider cutting into the mass of trees to give shape to two separate trees with a differentiation of light and dark between them.  3. I might clean up the shapes of these trees a little. 4. This one as well. 5. Consider darkening the side of the barn as the front of the barn is in the primary light.             Overall a great feel in this painting Lonna.                                                                  

Lisa's Pears update

Here's Lisa's fantastic new still life painting. I think the relationship between the pears is fantastic and the drawing is spot on. It comes from a really good set up with solid lighting.
Her painting is quite successful as it is.

I've Photoshopped a few thoughts based on her photo should Lisa want to consider a few changes.

1. Lighten the right side-the strong dominant light side of the red pear. eliminate the suggested secondary highlight and maybe cool the entire pear down a bit. I've also strenghtened the highlights on all of the pears a little. She could punch them a bit more if she wants.
2. Notice the shadow cast to the left that imposes on the reflection.
3. Notice that the reflection lightens and the edges diffuse the further from the object the reflection is.
4. Notice the cooler, bluer ambient light from the upper left side. It isn't nearly as strong as the primary light but it has an influence. This influence can make the overall piece more interesting. The far side on the top plane of the table is slightly darker than the front of it. Especially the far left side.
5. Watch the way this shape grew a little bit in this area.
The strong diamond shape between the two left pears might be subdued a little to not pull our eye directly to this spot. I've softened the edges here and reduced the contrast.
The background in the photo indicates that the wall behind the pears is slightly darker and cooler. However Lisa's background here works well  and is interesting because of the variegated color.
Another few notes-notices the smoothing of the main object color to the shadow color. When the there are fewer objects, each one and the their setting becomes more important. Each edge and relationship, etc. Note also that I've pushed the cool edge on the left side of the pears slightly on each of them.
Fantastic job here Lisa. Bonus points for a solid ellipse.

Leah's canal pianting update

 Here is Leah's most recent painting of her canal with trees painting. Notice that she started a new one on a more horizontal 2x1 ratio canvas. I was dubious but Leah made it work really well.I think that there is a lot of really good work here and if she were to stop now it would be a good painting. I particularly like the nice sense of light in the shadow on the rocks. That's really well done. The dark line where the rocks meet the water is also really effective.


If there were a few things I'd consider changing 1. I'd look to the size relationships and the angle of the trees in perspective. I extended Leahs photo a little to show the height of the closer trees to the right.

2. I really like what Leah did with the sky above the trees. It's lighter closer to the horizen and she's show that while still putting a little more color than indicated in the photo. As we've talked about before, the lights in a photo can become a little blown out if the darks and middle tones are the primary focus. The reason the reflection of the sky on the water is darker is because it is reflecting the sky above it which is typically darker, I felt that color in the photo was a little darker and more intense than what we're seeing in the sky above the trees to the point that there is almost no relationship between the two. So Leah can lighten and muddy the water a little which will tie it to the nice sky she painted. It's super close.
3. Maybe hit a few more of the darks in between the rocks in the shadows.

 Here are a few quick Photoshop notes

1. Just to show a few more darks between the rocks. Not everywhere but pick a few spots. I added a few light purple/blue lights on the rocks in shadow to indicate the blue ambient light.
2. Just a little lighter greyer water with a few horizontal lines.
3. I made the trees in the right side a bit taller and the trees to the left a little smaller than in Leah's original without growing them too much. The contrast between light and dark side is less as the trees recede.
4. You can see that the contrast between light side and dark sin the near trees is greater. I didn't push it to the extent you see in the photo reference and it could be pushed more in the painting. I made the light side slightly warmer and varied the edges and interior light and dark shapes in a few places to show how they can be differentiated.
5. Note that the red bushes have shadow sides as well.

Nice job Leah.