A montage doesn't necessarily work!

I wanted to paint a bothy in a Scottish landscape with a nice sky, but I couldn't find a picture of the exact scene I pictured in my mind. I had a picture from a trip North, and it had the bothy and hills I wanted but it was a dreich, rainy day so the colours were muted and sky just grey. Also the composition of the picture wasn't the best (from a car window!) having half a loch on it.



I thought I could incorporate the aspects I like - bothy, hills, general form of it and include a 'nicer' sky, ditch the loch, and last minute I added a tree (because I like trees, and had never painted one before!).


Lets put a tree in!
So I've included a series of images of the painting. I like the sky, bothy and tree! But that kind of tree although nice (in my mind) isn't quite right, as its unlikely to be growing next to a bothy in this particular setting. 



Overall its a a step forward in my painting, but I don't think the whole image sits completely together, in fact I'm pretty sure that it shows that my main weakness with water colour at present is the landform, so I need to work on this. I'm really pleased with the sky, but I think that it shows its potentially very difficult to get a montage to work... 

Finished!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Art Society of Inverness

Image
Earlier in the summer I joined the Art Society of Inverness  and attended 2 classes before their summer break. The first time I went along I felt very much like a fish out of water... At the Church where its held there was a flurry of activity as people were bringing in box after box of equipment, easels, giant canvases, wearing aprons.... and I had a small sketch pad, 6 pencils and an eraser! The group/people were very welcoming, its just that it was an alien environment for me and I have/had no idea how to draw or paint.  Another montage/mix up... not quite right, but I like the sky(again) The structure is really good, its run by Jonathan Shearer  a full time artist. You basically take your own work (any medium), and at the start of each class he does a demo on a particular aspect, you then get on with your work and he comes around the class giving advice and tips. Jonathan is very perceptive and quickly picked out my weaknesses, but also my style, or at ...
Read more

A discovery

Image
Well maybe its not a discovery, but a great additional bonus to my current creative streak is discovering new artists and getting pleasure from seeing their work. Jonathan lent me a book by the amazing Welsh artist Rob Piercy and I am blown away by his work, particularly his landscapes, which he mainly does in water colour. (slightly out of focus I think! Will try to change) His paintings demonstrate a mastery of this particular medium and I doubt I will ever see another artist who can use watercolour so effectively to capture mountain scenes as he does. So I have completed a couple of mediocre copies of his pictures to try and refine my technique. I am happy with my results, obviously still miles to go, but sections of my paintings do really work.
Read more

Progress and serendipity

Image
It's been a busy few weeks on many fronts artistically. Firstly I've been busy painting stuff for Christmas presents... A couple of people are getting a picture whether they want one or not! And then by chance I heard from Emma, an old friend I lived with in Derbyshire years back who now resides on St Agnes on the Scilly Isles.. Emma is a great arty soul who's spent years, maybe decades by now beach combing and creating art with a lot of what she finds, whether jewellery, sculptures and paintings. She now also runs her own small art gallery in the Scilly's - Pot Buoys on St Agnes. After catching up on social media she asked if she could sell some of my pictures, particularly my boats! Very exciting, but also a little stressful that I now need to create some and send them South to see if they are loved. Creativity after painting still life for a few weeks I've returned to landscape paintings and have made progress. I've finally painted the field opposite th...
Read more