Vineyard View, 9 x 12, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2020
SOLD
Today's fix is from a Napa Valley trip I took a few years ago...
The day I chose this location to do some plein air painting, the sky was full of gorgeous clouds. When I came back the next morning, it was foggy but I blocked in my painting leaving LOTS of room for that glorious sky. I just knew it was coming. It never did. The fog never wore off. Best laid plans gone awry, and the painting stayed misty. Until now...
BEFORE
AFTER
CHANGES
Problem - Canvas looked "cut in half" at the horizontal center line.
Fix - Raised up the mountain tops slightly past center and added activity above the center line.
Problem - So much canvas devoted to the sky, but nothing going on.
Fix - Added a sky feature - clouds!
Problem - Foreground field was disconnected from distant field layers.
Fix - Darkened the foreground to a value more similar to the field beyond, and added "field markings" to make it feel like a continuation of tilled land.
Problem - Background mountain range was disconnected from previous field layers.
Fix - Added just a "suggestion" of fields continuing into distant valleys, in order to make the valley feel expansive and cohesive.
OBSERVATIONS
Thank goodness I took some pictures of that first day with all the clouds! And thank goodness I still had them in my files! It took me awhile to revisit this one, but I'm so glad I did! It now looks like, feels like, smells like the lush valley vista that I was so compelled to paint on that California hillside!!
