I plan to post current paintings on my blog site. I'm not much of a writer but I do love to paint. I do oils and pastels and I teach workshops. I plan to sometimes post demos and talk about how to create a painting as well.
Please check out my website at www.alineordman.com
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Active Coast and Early Morning Peacham
Active Coast 9 x 12 oil on canvas
Two new paintings. "Active Coast" is 9 x 12 oil on canvas.
"Early Morning Coast" is 24 x 36...big for me...oil on gallery wrap canvas
Aline, these are lovely. I've decided my biggest problem is design/composition. I study yours to find how you've 'followed the rules:' connecting big shapes, blah, blah, blah. Your work is always wonderful but I don't see 'formal' rules anywhere. Can you recommend a book that can help one 'see' a good vs a 'bad' composition?
"Peacham' here is really well-designed: big dark shape below, a road leading me to the sunlit RED barn, then a 3rd far plane with darker, cool colors. Just 3 varied horizontal blocks. Oh, & there's an 'arrow' of shadow on the road pushing the eye to the red barn, too. Just great. Did you think all that out in advance? How about thumbnails? Lots of those? And I LOVE the patch of 'Aline Coral' on the right, under the red barn. So beautiful, Aline. MaryB
Mary...I am embarrassed to say I do not do thumbnails since I have a hard time translating them to the canvas. I admire people who do. I wipe out a lot on the canvas though. I had a hard time with composition too but I don't know any books. I just always think about the "dividing" the canvas in your mind so that it's always 2/3 either across or up and down...or in other words, nothing smack in the middle.
Oh, Aline--you make me feel a lot better. There is no secret clique that I've been kept out of. This stuff is hard for everyone! Hurray! You're right--the main thing is to keep things out of dead center. I did find a neat book by Alex Loomis & find it very freeing. He shows how you can use anything for a 'structure'--the letters Y, C, O, etc.; swerving lines, triangles, almost anything. Just don't put things dead center. I like your simple tactic of 2/3 one way or the other. Easily remembered! Thanks so much, Aline. I always hope there will be one big Book of Art. There just isn't. Practice is the key! Your new works are gorgeous, BTW. L&K, MaryB
Aline, these are lovely. I've decided my biggest problem is design/composition. I study yours to find how you've 'followed the rules:' connecting big shapes, blah, blah, blah. Your work is always wonderful but I don't see 'formal' rules anywhere. Can you recommend a book that can help one 'see' a good vs a 'bad' composition?
ReplyDelete"Peacham' here is really well-designed: big dark shape below, a road leading me to the sunlit RED barn, then a 3rd far plane with darker, cool colors. Just 3 varied horizontal blocks. Oh, & there's an 'arrow' of shadow on the road pushing the eye to the red barn, too. Just great. Did you think all that out in advance? How about thumbnails? Lots of those?
And I LOVE the patch of 'Aline Coral' on the right, under the red barn. So
beautiful, Aline. MaryB
Mary...I am embarrassed to say I do not do thumbnails since I have a hard time translating them to the canvas. I admire people who do. I wipe out a lot on the canvas though. I had a hard time with composition too but I don't know any books. I just always think about the "dividing" the canvas in your mind so that it's always 2/3 either across or up and down...or in other words, nothing smack in the middle.
DeleteOh, Aline--you make me feel a lot better. There is no secret clique that I've been kept out of. This stuff is hard for everyone! Hurray! You're right--the main thing is to keep things out of dead center. I did find a neat book by Alex Loomis & find it very freeing. He shows how you can use anything for a 'structure'--the letters Y, C, O, etc.; swerving lines, triangles, almost anything. Just don't put things dead center.
ReplyDeleteI like your simple tactic of 2/3 one way or the other. Easily remembered!
Thanks so much, Aline. I always hope there will be one big Book of Art.
There just isn't. Practice is the key! Your new works are gorgeous, BTW.
L&K, MaryB