summer clouds

ruth meaders wrote

on 18 Aug 2010 6:15 AM

I would like a critique on this painting. 36x36,oil

j.b2 wrote

on 18 Aug 2010 7:25 AM

The clouds have a nice richness to them.

In my opinion the sky is too dark in the large open area. The sky is the lightest value in a painting unless there is a man made object in it. The small openings of sky would be darker in value than the large sky opening. To prove this go out & look at the openings in the branches of trees with the sky behind them. The sky openings are slightly darker in value..

Check out Marvin Cone's cloud paintings!!!

j.b2 wrote

on 18 Aug 2010 11:46 AM

Here is a link to Marvin Cone's paintings that are on display at the Cedar Rapids Muesum of Art.

http://www.crma.org/Exhibition/Detail/Current/The-Sky-s-The-Limit-Marvin-Cone-s-Clouds.aspx

Enjoy!!!

KatPaints wrote

on 18 Aug 2010 4:44 PM

"The sky is the lightest value in a painting unless there is a man made object in it."

I'm scratching my head over this.  In this painting the lightest value would be the clouds, not the sky. If there is something lighter than the blue sky in a painting, say clouds or a white wood house, the highlights would be the lightest value in the painting. Or if a highly reflective object sitting on a table has a highlight, then that would most likely be the lightest value in the painting. Everything is a balance, a comparison of one object/area to the next. Am I misunderstanding you?

"The small openings of sky would be darker in value than the large sky opening. 

Actually the sky is lightest closest to the horizon and darker as it is higher up away from the horizon. Stand in an open field and compare the color of the sky closer to the ground to the sky higher up. With that said, if you draw an imaginary horizontal line from the smaller openings to the larger opening, the values on the same horizon line should be about the same.

To prove this go out & look at the openings in the branches of trees with the sky behind them. The sky openings are slightly darker in value.."

Nope. I'm not seeing it. The openings higher up are darker and the lower openings are lighter. Either you're seeing an optical illusion or I am misunderstanding you.

____

Overall, I like the painting. I like that it is 3' square. I could even see it going larger.(I saw a 6'  by say 8' sky painting on vacation. It blew me away.)It is very dramatic and has a fabulous mood to it. It's really a nice abstraction- it's realistic but the composition and focus on only clouds makes it more abstract.  My only issue is that I'm not certain what type of clouds are depicted. I'm no cloud expert, but they are out there and will know what a fluffy white cloud predicts weather wise or clouds that look like streams of cotton predict for the weather. They seem as though they are mostly your imagination, which is fine, correct me if I'm wrong, but know that there are people out there that know their clouds and others will think something is a bit off but can't put their finger on it. I decided last week that I was going to focus on cloud painting and those darned clouds just keep moving while I paint them. I think I'm going to get some science books; we get anatomy books to better understand figure drawing - right. Let me know if you think this is a good idea for you as well.

Call your painting done. Good job.