Alesoun's Anything Artwork;Can you see what it is yet?

[alesoun]

More sketchbook stuff and a finished painting...

Sorry, just not a very good photographer...

[Chris Bennett]

I love that window painting. Beautiful - the quiet strips of pink on the far left representing the window frame set the whole mood for everthing else to play against. Absolutely lovely.

Have you ever seen the paintings of Christiane Kubrick? The wife of the late, great film director Stanley KUbrick?
This has a beautiful energy redolent of her work.

[Black Spot]

Lovely light. A picture is a window to another world and I think you've captured that.

[alesoun]

..and driving me insane...

[Black Spot]

That strut is tons better than the last time and the overlaps on the right are a lot better. I always knew you were insane.

[mike butkus]

LOVE the window painting!

[alesoun]

MikeButkus, Blackspot, thank you both so much, but if I say I'm doing a window scene at any time in the next 12 months, please call the men in white coats to cart me away. Hand-painted straight lines and complicated/skewed perspective for somebody as impatient as me? Plus trying to add richness to acrylic?

It was fun, but blackspot's right. I was insane to start with.

[alesoun]

This is the second time I've done this. There will be calligraphy involved, and that's what screwed it up first time. So, before I screw it up again...


edit; acrylic on watercolour paper.

[Black Spot]

That is lovely. Wonderful metallic sheen.

[alesoun]

I hadn't seen Christiane Kubrick's work, Chris Bennet, But I Googled her. Thanks for the compliment.

I'm roughly halfway through this Chinese dragon. Figuring out what is what (leg, trunk, horns, teeth, eye) has been a bit of a pig to do, but I think I'm getting there...

[Black Spot]

Is it holding up the vase/bowl or is there a stem with a base? It looks like it's floating atm. I can see the dragon better than the last one you showed me - the contortions look complicated.

[alesoun]

No stem with the vase, Black Spot. The dragon is holding it up. So much still to do on it.

[alesoun]

Finished, I think. I'm starting to overdo things and fiddle unnecessarily...

[Black Spot]

Shadows on the ground and generally are lacking. I think you made to too complicated to start with. There is little of form on the dragon when you have in spades on the bowl. Maybe a good squint would help.

[alesoun]

Took your points on board, Black Spot

[Black Spot]

That's tons better. Well done.

[alesoun]

According to my husband, I'm rocking a sort of Paul Nash vibe to this one.

It's not intentional; it's just a spindly trees thing. It's roughly a third of the way through, and it will change...

[Black Spot]

I know what he means, but you're a lot softer. Nice airy feel.

[alesoun]

I will get there; but this is stuck in the "ugly stage" right now while I try to get the shapes of the background colours. I'm not trying for photorealistic, but it's not where I want to take it yet.

[Black Spot]

Remember the sky should be the lightest not the brightest bit of the picture. At the moment it's brighter than some of the trees. Pushing the values on the background will tell you what to do with the foreground. The orange section will stand out even if you obliterate most of the colour, but then those trunks will need to almost glow.

[Chris Bennett]

Lovin' these recent paintings.

Ms Spot's going to run after me with a pair of rusty shears for saying this but:

The first version of these paintings are the best, and progressively loose their poetry as they continue.
All to say, I think you can trust your instincts to lead you...

Which is not the same as saying Ms Spot is not a very helpful and lovely lady!

[alesoun]

Chris Bennet, I know whjat you mean, I think. This one

has been on the stocks for ages. Partly because I've been busy with other stuff, but also because I kind of like it as it is.

I've put in another 8 or so hours on the spindly trees. It's frustrating because after layers of colours, there's not a lot of apparent difference, but the left hand side is starting to go the way I want, so, maybe, eventually...

[Black Spot]

It's coming on well. Although I think the grass is too green. I preferred it when it was softer and the shadow could be seen.

[Chris Bennett]

Yep, the left hand side of the tree painting is looking very good!

I agree with Ms Spot about the green. Though I don't think it's because of the saturation of the green but rather that the fluctuations of tone within it have no shape... Which they possessed in the earlier version.

[alesoun]

I had to knock back the grass because it was distracting my eye from the bg. I think it's heading the way I want it to now, so I'm building the grass back up.

On the home run, I think. Mind you, I thought that nearly a week ago... The last bit is going to be tedious to do. It's driving me boss-eyed as it is.

[Black Spot]

There's a lot more depth in it then before and more unity in the background, which brings the trees out. Well done.

[alesoun]

Calling this one finished although, knowing me, I'll come back to it sometime after Christmas and play around with the grass.

[Black Spot]

Don't. It's lovely as is.

[alesoun]

Started a still life, but my shoulder hurts too much to keep painting tonight.

I'm aiming for a more "graphic design" look rather than photo-realism.

[Chris Bennett]

Calling this one finished although, knowing me, I'll come back to it sometime after Christmas and play around with the grass.

That's looking great.
It's difficult to tell from the jpeg, but if you do anything to the grass area it would basically be to knock back the value of the large, bright grass shape at the bottom. Just a stop or so - it's just dragging a little on the eye circulating the painting. Notice things feel more comfortable when you cover that bright bit up. There is a value for that and a tone that will be exactly right... you just have to nail it.
The tuning of the fine points in a painting as well structured as this makes a huge impact and it's worth taking the trouble.

But great stuff all the same.