CRITIQUE 14 - Beginning Landscapes- help getting started

QUESTION:

CJ, my problem is landscapes... I never really got into them.
Oils especially....any good exercises or ideas- P.S> I am not really a detail painter...sort of..also am a grad. of Ringling School of Art and design so I know quite a bit about design, comp.,
just those boring landscapes lol Help!
C 

ANSWER:
Do some research before painting landscapes for the first time or if you find you are painting boring or lifeless landscapes.

*Familiarize yourself with landscape paintings, compositions, colors, etc:

1. Check out contemporary and old master paintings - decide what type of landscape scenes you are attracted to.
2. Do you like more abstracted, impressionistic or photo real.
3. Study what it is you like about your favorite landscape paintings and try to get that "wow" factor into your paintings.

*Familiarize yourself with your desired medium

1. practice mixing the colors that you responded to in your favorite landscape paintings.
2. after you can re-create your desired colors - it helps to paint a page of cloud like structures and use all of the colors that you selected.
   *See how they look side by side
   *See how they look slightly intermingled
   *See how they look, one glazed over another

*Practice with the paint until you have good clean color and understand how the colors interact with one another. Don't think landscape... yet.

*Any good painting begins with a good drawing. Poor composition can ruin a painting with perfect color notes. So understand good composition be it for an abstract or realistic landscape.

1. Sketch out several thumbnails of possible compositions
2. if you are painting from photos - have large clear photos
3. Take many photos close up and far away.

PHOTOS For Reference:

1. Do not slavishly paint from a photo.
2. Remember that the camera "lies" - a black shadow in the photo has loads of detail in real life, that is, when you are actually standing there at the scene
3. Make sure you understand what distortions the camera creates in your scene as to color, value, loss of detail, point of interest, and more
4. Make some sketches while taking your photos
5. Make note of what you found interesting and why you took the photo to begin with.

Click here -->>CHECK OUT THE DESERT SCENE CRITIQUE where a landscape photo was explored for a painting.

 Thanks for asking!
CJ

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CRITIQUE 1 - desert scene - composition

images are copyright protected to the individual and are not for use other than in this post as a learning tool.

 

Desert Scene:  Working out a composition

(above) Original Photo of desert area with wheel dominating the scene. Wall blocks viewers eye from easily passing through to the upper portion of the scene.

 

Artist would like to paint this historic scene and does not have the opportunity to re-shoot image - So here are a couple of options in keeping with the integrity of the sceen.

 

 

 

This artist only inquired about composition for this critique session

 

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HOW TO CREATE AND SELL PRINTS of your art/photography online

 
There are a couple of ways to sell prints, cards, and other products with your artwork on them.  

1. The first thing you must have is a LARGE clean (not blury/not pixelated) image file. 
2. To sell at physical art fairs you must fit all of the showing requirements (proper tables, tent, etc)
3. To sell art prints online... All you need is a great high-quality image file!

ONLINE:

I belong to many online sites that will sell artprints, cards, images on T-shirts, cups, bags,... the sky is the limit on what you can find.

I particularly enjoy FineArtAmerica.com for prints. You can have an account to participate in the site for free. But it is $30. USD per year to belong and set up print sales.

With that fee you can set up your own gallery like this: http://cj-rider.artistwebsites.com

PLUS you have another gallery here on your profile like this: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/cj-rider.html

It is a highly visible site but you are ultimately responsible for your own online and in person promotion of your works.  No guarantees- but I find it quite useful and continue to have pretty good sales there.

You can also use it to set up "events" taking place here on OA- or blog about your posts here at OA. etc. Making things come full circle back to OA! Thus helping this site grow.

If you have any questions about making hi resolution images for printing - or whatever - please ask, maybe I will know.  I have done a lot of this stuff through out my career and I am happy to share what I know.

• Very important to use a tripod when taking art photos!  
• Use an 8mp or better camera for larger prints
• smaller mp cameras are ok for postcards, notecards, and other small prints.

 

You can google and find numerous sites to post and sell prints, cards, etc.
Redbubble, Etsy, Fine Art America, Devientart and many more - 

I have so far found Fine Art America is a well rounded and fair site. Also fairly easy to use.

However- you still have to do self promotion and get your work out there - the sites are not the "end all" to your print sales.

Anyone have any other favorites tips?

cj

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FIX THAT WATERCOLOR PAINTING!

 Here are some great ways to fix, adjust, and otherwise re-paint on your watercolor painting:

The first step to removing paint is to start off as gently as possible. You do not want to damage the tooth of the paper or it will fuzz out and never look like the rest of the painting.  Start by gently blotting the offending area with a damp paper towel to remove paint. Make sure to turn to clean surface after each blot.  

You can also use make-up or microcellular sponges to wipe out an area. These sponges are very dense and seem to erase most color away like magic! Some color is very staining in which case, you try one of the following tips:

1. MAGIC melamine foam eraser:which is a super-fine microscopic sandpaper-like substance. (MrClean) Cut to any desired shape - Moisten edge and drag through dried watercolor paint to make lines. For larger areas moisten a flat end or wedge and blot or wipe through painted area to be removed. Let dry, brush off residual sponge crumbs. It works like magic!
   
   
2. ELECTRIC ERASER TIP: Use one of those little hand held (battery powered) electric erasers to gently remove layers of completely dry watercolor (do not do this if your paper is damp!) These little erasers have small tips and you can get very detailed in your erasing.  You can also use this tool to add detail or sparkle to a watercolor as well as erase unwanted areas.
   
3. DANIEL SMITH GROUND: Great to use if you have worn out the paper or have stained the paper and would like to bring it back to white.  If applied carefully, and in a thinned manner, it follows the texture of the paper and makes an invisible repair.  It is absorbent just like the paper. You will notice that it does not respond exactly like the paper - but in most cases it is close enough. You can also tint DS ground with color.  Caution: do not apply too thick.
   
4. EXACTO OR PIN TIP: Of course, there is always the exacto knife or straight pin, picking or carving method of removing paint ... this is nice for sea foam or areas where texture is ok.   it is a very harsh method and should really only be used for special effects like for breaking waves, maybe white fur, etc where it looks fab for the paper to have a little texture and rough edges and be pure white!
   
5. MASKING FLUID TIP:  Pre-plan and cover white or very light areas with masking fluid (like liquid rubber and rolls right off when ready - however, don't leave it on too long or you risk it tearing the paper in removal)
   
6. Q-tip: You can gently lift w/c off of surface with various types/brands of Q-tips,makeup applicator sponges,  brushes, etc. 
   • Dampen your Q-tip and gently stroke across area to make a line.  
   • Damp Q-tip or brush to remove w/c areas
   • Dampen area to be lightened... wait a sec or two, then blot with soft tissue or rag.  repeat as necessary to lighten area.

As summary, In a perfect world you will have your painting planned out and will leave the whites or have them masked off and won't change your mind about composition, etc.  But in MY world - I like to have some of the above tools to clean up areas that I MEANT to leave white or meant to have everything in the best placement...  haha.  

These tips are very helpful to give the artist the opportunity for a "do-over" - which is a very valuable asset!

whether you are a beginner or seasoned w/c painter - I offer you some great tips that I have learned the hard way...  to get you out of a pinch!

 One thing I would like to add is to be "light handed" on all w/c repairs as the paper will only take so much.   If the area is soaked, set back and let it dry before repainting/repairing.

TIP:   BLOT/don't RUB to remove excess water or paint

As the paper gets thin, it sometimes tends to give off a grayish cast, so if you have thinned out your paper, use Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground before proceeding.

Hope these tips have helped you with your w/c issues! or have given you jumping off points for repair ideas of your own!

 cj

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ACRYLIC PAINT PROPERTIES -tips

 

1. ACRYLIC PAINT DRIES VERY FAST!!

Acrylic paint will sometimes dry faster than you can paint!

• don't paint in a draft
• don't paint in the sun
• don't paint near heat or air conditioning vent

 You can remedy fast drying by using an 'acrylic retarder medium' product that slows the drying time. Don't overdo it though, or you will end up with a painting that stays tacky too long!

Have a fine-mist spray bottle handy to spray a light mist of water over your palette and on the area you are working to keep the paint moist.  Keep it very light so the paint does not run.
        2.  ACRYLIC PAINT CHANGES COLOR WHEN DRY
You will find out early on that acrylic paint appears darker when it is dry.  To understand why, take a look at some acrylic "medium"  note how it is milky white when wet, but dries clear? Acrylic paint has this medium like product in it to make it flow and to float the pigment in. As a pigmented acrylic color dries this "medium" also dries and becomes clear allowing more of the pigment to show through thus making the color appear darker.

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Watermark, Copyright mark, opaque and transparent words

Watermark, Copyright mark, opaque and transparent words
create one of the below options on an image. OR create a new file with just your watermark and save it to a safe place on your computer.  Then, when you have another artwork to label, just open the image and the watermark file, copy the watermark file then paste it on the image, adjust placement and then on to the next image.

OPAQUE Watermark:
No frills opaque signature/watermark for your images in Photoshop cs2

1. Open image
2. Select type tool
3. Select type color, size, style
4. click mouse on face of image and drag to desired size
5. type copyright symbol [ALT]+ 0169 and artist name
6. move to desired position on image

TRANSPARENT, etc.  Watermark:
Make transparent signature/watermark
1. On open image, select the type tool and black type color.
2. click on image and drag to create type/text box.
3. Type the Copyright symbol using [ALT]+ 0169, then type artist name.
4. Highlight the text and scroll through the fonts and font size to pick desired style.
5. Move the text block to desired position.
6. Across the top of the screen click "layers" then click "layer styles"
7. Change the text "layers" Blending options and click "LIGHTEN" (text will disappear).
8. Click on the layer "style" icon at bottom of palette and select drop shadow. The text will reappear transparent within outline shadows.
9. Experiment by adding other blending style options: emboss, glow, etc. for other effects.

Below are some examples on an image of several of the items described above.

WHY PROTECT YOUR IMAGES?

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Manage your new clients

Many new clients have found me via Betterfly
http://betterfly.com/?affid=27200

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