rcpongo's doodles

Had to go back to this one. Wasn't really happy with the left side before, but couldn't figure out what to put there. I like this though, so I think it's the right direction. Sorry, no little forest dwellers yet!

And really Taron, we should be the ones thanking you for making this all possible with this amazing program!

Edit: Awww nuts,... it started a new page. I added the image on the last post too so they can more easily be compared.

[Taron]

That gives us a great opportunity to comment directly on your additions. You've made it richer for sure. Somehow, though, my brains are troubled by the mushrooms there, because it feels like they really, really don't want to be there on an exposed rock. If you had an old, "rotting" tree trunk there somewhere, maybe just a bit of root work showing and the mushrooms grew on or around that one, it would feel more "real", or imaginable, you know. But the mushrooms are not entirely necessary to begin with, even if they look cute.
You also have a very elegant a pleasant focus on the little waterfall in the perfect spot and the mushroom area almost distracts in a way, pulling the eyes away from the waterfall.

I know, sometimes it's hard to imagine what it's like for someone to see your painting for the first time. You've become so familiar with everything and want to see more, add more, fill it up. But it's tricky to improve on your highly artistic intuition, which you should really respect greatly. I can tell you that I do very much!

Hmmm...maybe if those shrooms would be very subtle in the dark along the little path this rock seems to trail into away from the light?! Don't let them pull away from the waterfall, that's what I'm thinking. I still love it, though!

Ah yes. Those mushrooms really don't belong in that location. I was originally going to put a log there, and they would have made more sense, but I see what you are saying about the waterfall focus.

Fortunately I made those on a new layer, so easy to remove. Think I'll call this one a learning experience and move on.

Thanks for the critique!

Very nice painted , but a few small things could you maybe adding? making richer? Like taron did wrote := Because I did miss a little bit more life/action. Maybe some fish ? Butterflies? Pair of colorful flowers? Just some ideas ist only my suggestion

yeah e.g. rotten trunk with mushrooms, and some colorful gold fish in the brook

+ +

Experimenting with some new settings and paint styles.

[Taron]

I'm excited to see yet another substance brought to life so convincingly, RC, that's very interesting! I'm trying to figure out what the consistency of that paint may be. It feels, however, perfectly dried to me, yet, partially dissolved by patches of water. A kind of Acrylic?
What ever it may be, it looks "real" AND it looks very relaxing, too!
I'm very impressed with your color choices, even if it may seem linear once examined, going from green over petrol to blue, but to me it's almost bold and brave, especially the warm gray mountains behind the trees, making the green jump off the canvas.

Great job!

I think you analyzed it quite well. I don't really have any experience with real painting, so it's a bit hard for me to say. I have been reading through some painting books and watching videos trying to learn a bit more, and for this piece I wanted to paint with shorter, more opaque strokes, and not use much blending at all. I also limited my pallet by placing down just a few splotches of color, and everything in the piece was either one of those colors or mixed from them.

Also, I'm curious about the linear color comment. Is it that I am working through the spectrum in a predictable manor, or something else?

[Taron]

Linear only in terms of Green > Blue/Green (patrol) > Blue, which represent a linear march along the spectrum. That's almost all but "predictable" as commonly people would seek complimentary colors to compose contrast. The gray area behind the trees on the right is the closest to such color based contrast, yet, even it is very subdued, not going to full on purple to clash against the rich green.
In nature one can observe a great deal of variety in the play of colors on different landscapes at different times of the day and so on, such that it's hard to define any "rules" or such, nor is it really relevant. I like to consider the logic of light and bounce lights along with atmospheric diffusion and so on. But it's challenging to lean back and allow logic to rule the choices and it takes a certain courage to ignore what our childish minds dictate. However, paintings often want to speak louder or quieter about the subjects nature has inspired. How to vary the volume and which words to pick to sing the song of ones inner landscape is yet another mountain to climb. To control the contrast, color theory is very helpful, if there's not enough faith in ones own judgement. This judgement, though, is always mildly impaired by what you were looking at before... like, if you stare at a blue painting for long enough, the ability to perceive blue is being diminished and future color choices are skewed by that. That's most likely another reason for why a painting may feel very different when you look at it the next morning or after seeing a few other things for a while.

It's definitely fun and interesting to think about all this. I just bought a fun little LED chain to light my room where I can set the color. It's really neat and I may use that to counteract having looked at one specific color for too long, hehehe. Either way, those things are fun!

Very well, rcpongo, I like your paintings with their natural feeling.