Happy new year, my three readers. It’s cold and drafty in my studio, but I’m pretty sure it’s building my character, or something. This month my art has mainly focused on Scottish landscapes. Landscapes are a new challenge for me. How to create paintings that are interesting? Communicating an aspect of the beauty of a place is not enough for a painting to be successful, even when combined with a strong composition. Something more needs to be happening. My art teacher suggested floating some disembodied body parts in the water in the top painting. What do you think?
It has been an interesting month, with my mood swinging between a feeling of accomplished growth and one of crippling self doubt. You know, artist stuff.
The painting above was starting to look a little too pretty, so I took a scraper to it, which created some interesting effects in the paint. I’m making sure I keep many works in progress going at once, so I don’t get too precious about any of them. Surely one or two of them will have to come out well, right?
Well Julie for me landscapes are interesting when they have an inventive use of color in them, which your top two definitely have for me. Composition is important, which your top one there has in spades. It’s good stuff! I wish I could master color the way you do.
I agree, good use of color can make a painting all on its own. With these I’m kind of lost between my usual love of bold colors straight from the tube, and darker, more subdued tones which better match the moodiness of Scotland. More experimenting needed, I think.
And thanks for your kind words. 🙂