Park Gazebo - Fix It Friday!

 

Park Gazebo, 12 x 12, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2023

I do love a Friday Fun Day... A different perspective and freedom to play... 

Today I am revisiting FIX IT FRIDAY - a practice from the cooped up Covid days of 2020! During that time, I posted a new "fixer upper" for 25 straight weeks in a row! It got me through the dog days of staying home and social distancing. From there, I moved to FIGURES ON FRIDAY (like the one I posted HERE last week). Both practices offer a little break and are good for my soul. ;)

BEFORE

AFTER

Problem - Lighting is overall muted and flat.

Fix - Increased the contrast by "pushing" the darks and lights on the structure and foreground trees.

Fix - Brightened the sky with a more intense blue and contrasty clouds.

Fix - Changed the gazebo roof to a cooler, crisper color (which makes its shade below it feel like a cooler place to be too.) 

Problem - Figure on left was not working for me. Too large? Proportions off?

Fix - When in doubt - DELETE! What a relief!

Fix - Narrowed the path which got too wide trying to accommodate my odd figure. 

OBSERVATIONS

Sometimes I can see that I have fallen short with my value range. (It's always so much easier to see after the fact. We get retina fatigue and just stop too soon.) That was happening here. It just needed that final pop of values to set the light and overall tone of the painting. 

Now I can feel the ocean breeze and the sunshiny reflection off the water. Ahhh!

2023 SPRING WORKSHOPS (click HERE and join me):
April 14-15 - The Contemporary Austin Art School in Austin, TX (Full with wait list)
May 4-6 - Anderson Fine Art Gallery in St. Simons Island, GA

Vineyard View - Fix It Friday #23

Vineyard View, 9 x 12, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2020

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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!!

Windswept By The Bay

Windswept By The Bay, 9 x 12, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2016

Available

This is another plein air piece from California. I spied this little dwelling next to the sea and knew immediately that I would go back to paint it. Some things just have my name on them! I loved the way it was nestled into the windswept cypress trees. When I got started, the afternoon breeze was just beginning to pick up. By the time I finished, my umbrella had blown off and had to be put away, my easel had tipped over once, and I was painting furiously to catch the scene before the wind drove me inside. One thing is for sure... I saw first hand how those trees got their twisted, leaning, weathered shapes!