Landscape painting, C&C needed!

[CybrGfx]

Maura, it's pretty much scrap. Keep it as part of your art chronicle, so that 25 years from now, you can marvel at how much you've changed, and possibly save the color palette, but beyond that, not much else you can do, except move on and revisit the concept, if you so choose.

Why do I say it's scrap?
1. Composition ~ You've made the Noob Sin of bisecting your canvas with a horizon line almost dead center. You've then compounded the sin by sticking one LONE giant peak smack in the middle of the canvas, with the capping touch of two side hills with dark shadows creating an almost perfect 'v' in the middle of the canvas for the lone peak to nestle in...You've placed a winding road coming from the middle, which leads the eye down the center of the canvas to the bottom, where it slows down a bit by the lonely little house, and then plops off the bottom of the canvas, never to return, except for the blindingly bright peak glowing in the center, which brings up the second major problem with this piece,

2. Lighting ~ You show a REALLY bright glow behind the lone peak, with a strong right to left direction (note the bright highlight on the RH side of the peak on the LH edge of the canvas and the background mountains), yet you've illuminated the top of this central mountain from the top with that bright orange-red color, and a brighter spot on the RH side IN FRONT of the ridgeline... What in the Universe is causing that? A hugmongeous UFO shining a light down through the clouds? This mystery Light source is also managing to light the building in the foreground from the LH side, rather than from above, like the mountain, or the back, like the sun...Of them all, I would vote for the sun being the ultimate light source. The fact that you visually cannot achieve this warrants the "practice scrap" call.

Compositional Sketches are your friend. Truly. Even just 3-5 doodles on the square Post-It notepads would help you work out major placements and light sources...Much better than spending all the time to paint something like this, that has so much potential, yet is so fatally flawed that you would spend far more time fixing it than scapping it...Put a fork in it. It's done. Better luck with your next piece.

[SylvanMist]

hehe, thank you very much CybrGfx, I appreciate the honesty and will take the advice. At least I had a little fun painting it and using lots of colors :D

I do understand what you're saying on all accounts, although compositionally I didn't see it as being that bad, however I've also been staring at it for so long, it does wonders to get a 2nd opinion. Thanks!

[CybrGfx]

Please don't get me wrong!

It's NOT that bad.
It's just not that good, either.

Any piece is valuable for the FUN and the practice.
There just comes a time, when if you want to make is a "real" completed work, you have to judge whether it has a sufficiently strong foundation. This piece doesn't, for the reasons above. But, you learned a LOT from it, and DID have a good time, which means that the piece was a success in that respect. It's just come to the end of its particular value for you at this junction.

If it is still calling to you, recompose it. Some artists painted the same thing over and over, until they achieved the version that best reflected their intentions. Edvard Munch, who painted at least 3 versions of "The Scream," as well as a pastel, and a lithograph, is just one example.

It IS a powerful color scheme, that would work well with any setting. Come back to the idea and try it again.

~Cyber

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