Painting skies was a lot harder than I thought when I started. I wanted fresh, clean colors, but I didn't want it to look garish.
I painted this in layers, putting thin washes over previous layers before I was satisfied with the look of it. It's like making a pot of soup...I add a little salt, adjust the seasonings, some cream, until it's yummy!
That is something that I have learned in my painting journey. When I first started, I would feel like a failure if I couldn't mix a color and then put it on and leave it. I'm learning that the colors are relative to each other, and I don't feel bad if I have to adjust an area to make it lighter or darker relative to the rest of the painting. Feeling bad when I'm painting is not how I want to feel!
Love the sky in this. The thin washes really add layers of depth to the clouds & light. I really like all the landscape work you are doing. And I agree, feeling bad when painting is not a good thing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Nan!
DeleteAnother fabulous painting, Virginia. You did a great job on the sky but the whole painting is harmonious and beautiful, really beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comments on your feelings about having to keep working at it.
Just gorgeous, Virginia!! That sky is stunning and so well balanced by the green landscape. Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThis painting is gorgeous, Virginia. The sky is powerful and the colors are perfect. You're mixing the paint beautifully...something I'm just learning!! Again, I love it.!
ReplyDeleteI agree! And I love the look of the sky Virginia. It lookd fresh and lovely to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree-skies are very difficult-especially when they're so dramatic. I think you pulled it off well. My eye travels around this landscape in a good way too.
ReplyDeleteI'm so inspired by your paintings and successes. Each one is more beautiful than the one before.
ReplyDeleteThank you, everyone for taking the time to visit and comment! It really means a lot to me!
ReplyDeleteIl est bon de retrouver vos oeuvres après plus de 6 semaines d'absence... Je rentre tout juste des Philippines...
ReplyDeleteVotre ciel est absolument extraordinaire;..
belle peinture.
Gros bisous
Martine says: It's nice to enjoy your work after 6 weeks of absence ...
DeleteI just returned from the Philippines ...
Your sky is absolutely amazing; ..
beautiful painting.
big kisses
Virginia says: Thank you, Martine. Welcome back....I hope your trip was wonderful!
I entered a comment yesterday and I see it is not here so who knows what happened.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on winning the Liebster blog award. Your blog has inspired me and you are so supportive of many of us artists so I thought you deserved it. Please go to my blog to see what the next step is.
Virginia, cette composition est sublime ce ciel est enchanteur!j'aime beaucoup!
ReplyDeletecath.
Oooh What a nice sky.
ReplyDeleteLovely dramatic sky! I really like reading what you are learning. Very inspiring.
ReplyDeletePS thank you for all your supportive comments. I really appreciate them!!!
Virginia, If that was a soup it'd be sooo delicious! I know what you mean about enjoying painting - feeling bad about it sometimes seems to go with the territory.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a great point about how colors behave among OTHER colors. So true! It might look right on your palette, but sometimes you can't really tell if it's right 'til you put in place... I'm loving your landscapes!
ReplyDeleteNothing to feel bad about here. Love the sky. Isn't if funny what you take home as you learn to just let paintings do what they will sometimes.
ReplyDeleteGood painting, Virginia...agree with what you wrote about color relationships...it is a neat thing when that "kicks in" and we start to really understand that! Great job here.
ReplyDeleteYes, skies are super challenging. You did a great job. I love Kevin McPherson's stuff too. His book Inside and Out is fantabulous!
ReplyDeleteoh the yellow tint in the sky...so nice
ReplyDeleteI'm following in your footsteps and copying artists—amazing how much more I'm seeing!
ReplyDeleteI love what you wrote here . . . alla prima isn't the only way to go. And you got great results—truly spectacular sense of faraway distance, atmosphere . . .
Hi Virginia Just stopped by to say hello and I hope life is exciting and well for you and yours.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lesson for us all- relative color is something we all keep learning! You've done a beautiful painting here- congrats!
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful...I love the colours.
ReplyDeleteWow, you redesigned your blog, I like it!! These landscapes are gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteDid you read Mitchell Albala's book on landscape painting? He says that since Monet didn't expect himself just lay down a perfectly mixed color without adjusting, then neither should we have to expect that of ourselves. I found it very liberating to read that! (p. 140 of his book). I've read your whole blog, loved it, hope you are still painting, look forward to seeing and reading more of what you do...
ReplyDeleteLike your new profile picture.
ReplyDeleteHi Virginia , thanks for stopping by recently. Have missed your posts. Hope everything is ok!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Helen
Hi Virginia--Hope all is well and that you're finding some time to paint. Looking forward to some new posts from you. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful painting Virginia! I absolutely love the sky, and the bits of yellow and orange in the land below create some lovely harmony. Well done! Yes colour mixing is something that we all work hard at. Have you seen Carol Marines colour mixing ArtByte? It's excellent. Cheers, Claire
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