Have You Ever Attended a Virtual Critique?

Invitation to Critique

When I was attending art classes, I dreaded the critique.  The experience of trying to master a new concept and then realizing I'd missed the mark completely was definitely depression material.  But now I realize an informed critique is vital to artistic growth, and I am inviting you to join in this virtual crit session.

Taking into account that the color will vary according to your monitor, what I am seeing is a fairly accurate representation of the actual painting.   My palette consists of violet blue, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow deep, yellow ocher, Winsor yellow, terra rosa, transparent red oxide, burnt sienna, Quinacridone  violet,  Naples yellow (French), Naples yellow (Italian), Naples yellow, Naples yellow pale, and zinc white.  The greens are mixed.  I think the colors in the painting are slightly more saturated than the image I am seeing, but not as saturated as in the earlier versions.

Here are a few questions to start the critique...
Overall structure: 

• does your eye move smoothly throughout the composition or does it get stuck somewhere?
• what do you think is the center of interest?
• does the composition feel balanced or awkward?
• are the major shapes working? (assuming that the major shapes are there?)
• do you like any of the earlier versions ( previous post) better?  If so, why?

I hope you will participate, if only for the practice of evaluating a painting so that you can develop the skill.  I am hoping for some feedback that will help me see things I might have overlooked.

Looking forward to lots of responses in my comments section!

Comments

[Linda Blondheim]

Sue,
My friend Bonnie sent me to this blog. I see we have similar study habits. I have been studying the NOTAN process for about a year.
I enjoyed the good read.
LInda Blondheim
www.lindablondheimartnotes.blogspot.com

[sue]

Yes, Paulette, that's exactly what I wanted -- to see if I came close to communicating to others what I was feeling about this place. And also to see if there were areas that were not working...granted, the colors in the posted image might not be completely accurate to the painting, but I am taking these observations back to the actual work and studying the placement of color to see if there is something unexpected going on.

As for the varieties of Naples yellow: French is cooler and more yellow, Italian is warmer and more red, I use all of them much the same way artists might use gray and they mix beautiful greens as well as the reds: I particularly like the way the magenta mixes with Naples yellow, for one value (cooler), and Transparent red oxide mixes with the Italian for a warmer version of the same value. I find it easier to control the temperature within the color family in a very subtle but effective way. But it doesn't work that well for the darks!

[paulette]

I am going to answer your questions as put.
1. My eye sticks on the red going up the center tree.
2.the valley behind the trees, is the center of interest for me. I'm itching to explore it.
3. I think it feels balanced.
4.Major shapes?? I definitely have the feeling of a valley leading to a woods and a distant mountain. Not sure if that is what you mean?
5. I very much like the colours of the second one, but overall, like the third one best.

[June]

At the risk of being presumptuous, I have to disagree with Vivien about the colors. They seem just right to me, particularly as they are unexpected, contrary to popular opinion, if you will.

I would agree with her about adding a bit more asymmetry -- everything seems too tidily centered for my taste -- the edges of the canvas too "empty" perhaps.

I like the unmoored look of the trees -- to add more foliage would be to make them more conventionally rooted, but part of their charm is their lightness. They extend beyond the canvas at the top and so their lightness of being at the base works for me.

by the way, I find that dull olive is a beastly color to produce -- and not one that prevails much in western Oregon:-)

[sue]

Thank you both for your very insightful comments. It's very good for me to hear how other people see the combinations of shapes and colors. And yes, if you've ever been to Central Oregon, you know that there is only one color -- Naples Yellow ( also known as Mazama Ash) Oh, there are other colors here, called dull olive, (that would be the juniper trees and basalt lava) and cinder red (the lava that isn't basalt). Maybe that's why I love saturated color so much :>}

[vivien]

Hi Sue - an honest art college type crit ........... here goes :>)

please note these are just my opinions and feelings and are not the one and only way :>)

I think your purples are too pink - it makes the overall effect rather warm - whereas the sky is a cool one and the dried grasses suggest autumn/winter to me. I'd like to see those mauves go a bluer greyer colour with touches of the sky colour in the tree trunks and very little of the magenta left. Then you'd have a warm/cool play of colour.

I'd vary the heights at which the tree trunks end a little more - they are rather in line? creating more of a grove with different distances from the viewer.

I'd un-align the dip and move it away from the centre so it's assymmetrical.

I'd lighten the middle - whioh I know you've already done - but even more.

I'd cool the colour of the distant hills/mountains.

I'd bring more of those loose brush strokes suggesting dried grasses overlapping the base of the trees (at different heights and in different directions, some more some less) to enhance the feeling that they are embedded in the land.

The grove of trees is very centred - again add a little assymmetry? and not aligned with the dip

- having said all this feel free to ignore it all!!!

It's just occurred to me that I'd like a little more space at the bottom as well - maybe a slightly differently shaped canvas? even square? (says me who loves square canvasses! feel free to ignore!)

I think it's a nice painting that is potentially a really lovely and moody one.

I like your loose brushwork and the suggestion of foliage - lots of things about it - the list of crits is as I would crit when getting together with friends when we are totally brutally honest about each others work - but hopefully constructively so :>)

[June]

Hi Sue,

I made a fairly extensive comment on your virtual critique request last night but typepad never "took" them. I probably skipped an important step, but I thought I'd let you know that you aren't being ignored.

My comments were a bit presumptuous, since I don't know you and have only been reading your blog a little while.

However, what I think I said: my eye does move somewhat around the composition, but initially it is drawn instantly into the canvas to the mysterious darks behind the trees. The v shape of the hills behind reinforce that movement. The dark with the cool trees in front constitute the center of interest. The composition is balanced -- the two trees on the right balance the weight of the centered trees and the single tree on the left. The masses of v-shaped fields and distant mountain as well as the foreground of grass hold the whole scene intact, with the trees being centered in front of the mysterious path-like darkness.

I found a bit of (good) tension in the way the trees feel slightly uneasy in their directions and footing -- bending one way out of the ground and then going the other. This is particularly true of the far left and right ones. I like this tension -- it pulls us out and around a bit.

I particularly liked the cool color of the trees (with that bit of magenta rose) against the warmth of the fields. This violates notions about cool receding, of course, and thus forms an alliance with the tension of the less-than-strenuously moored trees -- very effective.

I laughed a bit when I read of all the naples yellows you used. When I painted in eastern Oregon a few summers ago, I was afraid I was going to deplete my naples yellow. And I never realized how many versions of it there are until I read your post yesterday. I'm hoping to get back there to paint, (I live in Portland, where greens becomes one's stock in trade) so I'll have to try some new ones.

I'm going to try to put this on your blog, but am also emailing it because I can't bear to have it lost again.

A good painting -- I didn't go back and look at the earlier versions -- next time, you might try posting all 3 on the same blog (even when you have posted some earlier) for those of us who are a bit lazy

cheers,
June