Drskmishra

[D Akey]

Great scene with the ships. I think the carrots may have been aboard the ship for the long voyage across the Pacific and they've lost their freshness a bit.

The forms are good as describing the items. The color is going toward the browns which doesn't feel terribly appetizing and it doesn't pull the viewer in particularly. And yet you also paint with great saturation in other settings. So it looks like it was a choice.

I think that if you are going to paint something where the color is not particularly the issue, where you are painting shapes and textures, that you may want to make it interesting by doing something cool with the lighting --- emphatically spotlighting a portion, so that you are breaking up the space in an interesting way. Gradients of lighting are nice, and shadows can make for interesting contours, not to mention the design of the canvas space. Also it implies that there is a world outside the canvas that the subject is part of. It's not so claustrophobic -- if you want to express that mood to the viewer. I can see that you have some attention to the lighting, but it could be pushed harder.

When we get into a painting, we sometimes lose the fresh eye because we're dealing with little problems of the painting and thus lose the painting from the narrow focus. So it's good to step away for a fresh look sometimes.

[Drskmishra]

Not yet done with reflections, have tried to learn and improve on it. Seek suggestions from all please.

[D Akey]

Hey, looks pretty good! You look like you're sailing into new waters. Nice adventure. I like the colors and the staging.

So I'll mention what some people do to create reflections in still water like a lake. It's different because other than in a marina where there's little water movement, the ocean has a choppier surface and doesn't create as much of a mirror effect. But since you look to be going for the mirror water effect, I'll mention it as a formula. You can use it and vary it.

The way that somebody like Bob Ross would do it is that they would take the color and values of whatever is above on the dry land that we see. And with those colors he would paint start at the point that the water meets those thing above the waterline and streak the paint down and trail off the farther down it gets. You could use a palette knife or a filter to blur in a vertical direction. And that can be blurred a bit (a trick readily available on the computer).

Then once that's done, you would come in here and there and smear horizontally in a linear fashion - to imply a breeze hitting a spot on the surface of the water. This also establishes in a light touch way where the surface is. Without it, with only the vertical colors it would be too ambiguous and you would lose the illusion of a lake/water surface. You could also go in and with a similar horizontal stroke (palette knife would be his 'go-to' tool usually, he would add a few spots of a light color as an accent where the water might be rippling a bit stronger.

Anyway, if you go to a mirrored surface, the feeling it would evoke is a placid, calm safe harbor kind of thing. Remember, waves, if they reflect at all, are angled in different directions so it wouldn't work in that kind of situation. What it would then pick up is perhaps sky color allowing a differentiation of groups of swells and so on that would add interest. It's all the artist's call how they want to do it. And some artists specialize in all the forms bodies of water can take and they get really good at it. Those are the ones who you want to look at. I suspect that's what you're copying here. So look carefully at what the overall impression of an area of the painting is and see what marks were used. Once you get the gist, you can vary it for anything related that you want to paint.

[Drskmishra]

Sir, I've always been following your advice, including the one where you asked me to be a keen observer! Thanks for being with me! Shall keep learning, thanks again.

[Drskmishra]

Tried to do this, street, cars, pedestrians and all. Seek suggestions from all please.

[D Akey]

I remember the first paintings you posted where you were doing this kind of thing then. I think you've shown you have much more confidence and know where and why you choose the colors and values and effects as well. The marks are showing some panache. I quite like it.

[Drskmishra]

Yes, I think I'm better off now sir. Learning very slowly, trying to improve bit by bit. Thanks for taking interest sir.

[Drskmishra]

Have given it another try, especially foam. Looking for suggestions please.

[Alexandra]

So beautiful, each and every one of them. What a pleasure to view.

[D Akey]

FANTASTIC!!!!!

I think you got the sky and especially the water just right! Great translucent luminosity in that key wave.

Two things that diminish it just a bit: When you have something mechanical in the shot, as with the lighthouse, it has to follow mechanical correctness, especially when you are taking everything else to a high level. It's not vertical, quite simply. It would be easy enough to select it with some sky around it and adjust it so you don't have to repaint it. Then just touch up the sky where there's holes from moving the selection.

The other thing in future you may want to think about is the rock cliff. They look sketchy when the rest of the painting looks finished. One thing that sometimes helps is to think in terms of planes. Simplify first, get the light hitting in a satisfying way, showing volume for the whole mass, and then add some details for interest if it needs it. Sometimes it does and sometimes less is more.

But 90% if this one is very good work. The mood and lighting is all quite as you would hope it to be I'm fairly certain. I really like the foam as well. Nice job on that.

Good one!!!