A painting I’ve had sitting about for a while now – 80x60cm oil canvas board . I tried using much thinner oil paint and paint in layers (eurgh, waiting for layers to dry but not really sure if I need to wait for them to dry). I think I like the colour tones of the stormy sky and the concentration of glowing light in the centre – but you can probably see that I really didn't know what to do with the foreground – at the time it was barely visible in teh lowering light. My instinct was to leave the foreground indistinct to draw the eye to the lowering sun, light flooding the field & the drama of those clouds. But…
A painting I’ve had sitting about for a while now – 80x60cm oil canvas board . I tried using much thinner oil paint and paint in layers (eurgh, waiting for layers to dry but not really sure if I need to wait for them to dry). I think I like the colour tones of the stormy sky and the concentration of glowing light in the centre – but you can probably see that I really didn’t know what to do with the foreground – at the time it was barely visible in teh lowering light. My instinct was to leave the foreground indistinct to draw the eye to the lowering sun, light flooding the field & the drama of those clouds. But…
Louise Balaam - Monthly Landscape Painting
Very insightful comments Karen. I think the danger of working in layers is that some energy and freshness can be lost (I find this anyway). I agree I would keep the foreground indistinct but that could be done through colour and tonal choice, so a few almost horizontal strokes of soft grey green might do the job. You want the eye to go to the lovely golden field. Watch out for that darker line on the horizon which divides those pale golden areas of colour.