<Painted enplein air at sunset standing here.
With this experiment I tried bigger blocks of colour, a more limited and thought out colour palette, longer brushstrokes and less brushstrokes.
The result is interesting I think! Less brushstrokes means the scene feels vast and emptier, with the space between marks very apparent.
The dark green background works well here and creates mood and atmosphere.
I enjoyed painting when the light was creating lots of interesting colours. What was unusual about this scene I painted was that I was facing the sunset, so the woods in front are silhouetted against the bright sky. This meant I couldn’t pick out lots of colours in the trees, instead I focuses on the background colours.
Applying less paint means there is less chance to layer the paint. But the structures should create the depth.
This was the first time I’ve added multiple structures to a painting. When I looked at the landscape when painting I saw multiple openings in the trees and knew I had to try adding multiple shapes!
Adding multiple structures made me realise there is the added complexity of depth in relation to perspective – every structure has to have the same horizon line so that one structure looks further away than another etc. Multiple structures work though! It does a good job at creating horizontal depth (when vertical depth is being created with one structure already).
Scratching into the paint would work well to mark the page where the white charcoal doesn’t stick to the oil paint (I didn’t have this problem with acrylic paint).
Georgina Harris 