house in snow

helen sullivan wrote

on 19 Jan 2010 12:24 PM

I did.  It's in the member gallery.

Kells2 wrote

on 8 Feb 2010 2:57 PM

All very good ideas indeed.I wondered what you might think about adding a little warm lamp?

Margo5 wrote

on 8 Feb 2010 3:55 PM

Helen, I think Kells may be right about the lamp.

helen sullivan wrote

on 8 Feb 2010 7:09 PM

Wow Kells and Margo. The house actually has one of those lamps. 

Kells did you check out the "final" painting I did and posted to the members gallery?

maybe I still need the lamp?????

Kells2 wrote

on 14 Feb 2010 11:21 AM

I haven't been able to find your changes. It would be interesting to see, however.

Where shall I look?

helen sullivan wrote

on 14 Feb 2010 12:00 PM

Kells, Since it's been awhile since I posted the picture, the easiest might be to click on my name and look at my posts.  The painting is titled "Untitled - for now".  I'd welcome your thoughts on the changes.

Jay Babina wrote

on 17 Feb 2010 11:52 AM

Here's a few suggestions along with your light in the door. I added a light violet in shadows and in the bkg left of the house. I also added that on the snow of the roof. I added a bush to break up that long line of nothing in the snow and I added some snow lumps on the line too. there was a drawing problem with the stairs at the end of the deck so I "snowd" that in a bit. And I darkened shadows under the bush(s) and lightened the over-all snow on the roof too.

There's a saying in art "if it looks wrong it is wrong". I didn't understand the stairs on the right . Even if you traced a photo, sometimes things just look wrong on a painting. 

There's no painter who doesn't have a collection of paintings that they put aside and move on. You did a good job and a few months from now you can look at it and you'll automatically know what to change or what you would do differently next time.. Best wishes.

Margo5 wrote

on 17 Feb 2010 11:59 AM

Helen, Jay has some good points here. Just adding the extra bush makes a big difference.

helen sullivan wrote

on 18 Feb 2010 3:55 AM

Jay, Thanks.  Excellent suggestions.  I love the bush you added, in particular.  I may have to think about putting one there IRL, 'cause it looks good. 

The critiques from everyone have been extremely helpful.  I was so tied to the "real" that I lost the "art."

Jay Babina wrote

on 18 Feb 2010 5:33 AM

Helen, you did a nice painting from the start. You perhaps worked from a photo and were taken by the tranquil beauty and magic of the serene and quiet snow scene with the diminished light. I have paintings that I did when enamored by a feeling of being there that never materialized into great art work. But in many ways that's the magic of painting. Gradually you know what will translate into a good painting and you get a bit more discrete in your subjects and you learn how to push them a bit into some excitement. If there's any art clubs or societies in your area, they are not only fun but seeing what other artist do is a great learning experience. Plus getting positive suggestions on your work is a great way to grow. 

Loretta Baker Sawatzky wrote

on 3 Apr 2010 1:45 PM

Helen, I think the most important thing when we are painting from photgraphs is to have the proper lighting whether it is portraits or when we are portraying any three dimensional object.  If we don't have the proper lighting, it will not translate well onto our two dimensional ground. Side lighting and sometimes backlighting will produce a better picture for us to paint from. Study the old masters ( i.e. Rembrandt) and observe where they have their light source and how they model(use tones or values to make their painting look three dimensional) their painting to make it look so real. I think you have a good start to your painting, you just need a better example to paint from.

helen sullivan wrote

on 18 Sep 2010 5:01 AM

house in snow rev web.jpg

Thanks to everyone for your very helpful and encouraging comments.  I took them to heart, but put the painting away for awhile, so I could look at it with fresh eyes.  Here is the result.

I added light, as suggested, in the door and windows.  Also used purple on the trees in the background and added more snow in shadow under the deck.

On the roof, at another artist's suggestion, I used a palette knife to show more volume.

There are some added yellows in the bush and in the pine trees behind the house on the right to move the eye around the painting; and more snow all over.

I understand that the angle of the steps may not make sense if you haven't seen the house, but it accurately depicted - I checked.  The steps give over to a raised walk that is outlined in railroad ties.  In the snow, only part of the railroad tie showed through.

I can't call this my original work, because all of you helped me so much - but that is very okay with me.  It was a great learning experience.

wangtao wrote

on 21 Oct 2010 9:24 PM

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Very impressive piece of art. Well done.

helen sullivan wrote

on 22 Oct 2010 4:41 AM

thank you