Lesson 5 :: Landscape #4 (your magic arrow flies with precision)
Problem of the trees on Center Island being out of proportion has been solved. I increased the height of the trees at the banks of the river to match better the island.
I am very happy with the way the trees reflect against the dark shadow. I used a very dull green painted directly over the blue of the water. Then I simply added a bit of lighter value green to give the illusion of highlights from the tree leaves. This is somewhat new territory for me. The only other painting I have done with reflection in water is “Landscape #2.”
At this point I should have been done with this painting. But after leaving it in the studio overnight I came back and was dissatisfied. Something was wrong. The painting overall lacked dynamism. It felt wet and dead and cold. Leaving it over the weekend didn’t help. When I came back to the studio it still wasn’t ‘working.’
So back in I went to add a higher chroma green in the foreground. My thinking was that there wasn’t enough contrast overall. And I went further, adding bright highlights to the foreground trees. But still it was a failure in my mind.
Find out how I solved the problem in the last lesson!
