Drskmishra

[Drskmishra]

Thanks both of you for the encouragement!

[Drskmishra]

Have given it another try after a long time. Water, foliage and rocks. Any better now? Seeking suggestions from all please.

[D Akey]

Better than what? Did you show an earlier version before? So I can't compare and can only talk about it as it shows here.

Is the picture a success. Yes, absolutely as a stand-alone experience. But the image doesn't really require describing the rocks. The little that's there looks very good in this context.

The water is great. Water on a waterfall or rapids is dependent on the photo whether there was a long exposure making everything blur or not. So that's a matter of looking at what your photo tells you to do. It looks good to me. You maintained the shapes of the rock shelves both as rocks and how the water is shaped passing over it in a cascade. So there's enough attention to the important stuff.

The leaves are stylized and depending on the photo, it may be that all you see are leaves that fill in and create a blanket kind of effect. So this source photo would not apply to our earlier challenges where you would see more of the tree shapes and bulbous clusters. Your effect is nice. It's very pleasant as a painting. It feels sparkly almost like the daytime green version of a night time star field. And that makes very pleasant associations on a poetic level. But I don't know if how you did it would apply to other tree or vegetation situations.

Anyway, is this a good painting? Yes, definitely. Everything looks good. Colors are nice, composition is good. Had a pretty strong artistic point of view where one could look at it and feel some awe of nature. Nice one.

[Drskmishra]

Thanks for the encouraging words sir. The place where I live is full of forests and such waterfalls are many during the rainy season, so there was no reference picture! I just imagined and painted! Earlier painting may be there in previous pages somewhere, and must be terrible! Thanks for your support all along sir!

[christophe.lambert]

good work. i like the way you used the canvas structure

[Drskmishra]

Thanks for appreciating.

[Drskmishra]

Have tried to improve on the rocks and reflections, any better? Looking forward to suggestions please.

[D Akey]

Before I say anything, I have to ask if you were working from a photo or out of your head.

With all respect, it looks like you only want to take painting to a particular level because you are using the same few "words" over and over. If you're good with it, I'm good with it too. You paint like I play guitar. I'm satisfied merely not back-sliding.

I think the telling thing is you say you're learning by doing. I hadn't before realized you are fine with imitating yourself at your previous skill levels. And as such, with repetition, you probably will not back-slide. And you will find that comfortable place that doesn't challenge you. From what I've gathered in the few things you've revealed, you need the relaxation of an easy time and that is the most important thing to you when you paint.

So in keeping with the spirit of what you want, I can only really say have fun with it. You keep putting them up, I'll keep looking. But I've said about all I can offer on the mechanics of painting for your approach. I don't paint like this so I can't really comment. So keep enjoying. You seem to be getting a lot out of it on that level. Go man go!

[Drskmishra]

Sir I don't use any reference photos, and am trying to improve upon the things I have learnt over time and build confidence that I can do it! Enjoying myself, yes! As you rightly said, now I should try to expand the ideas further, which I am doing by looking at scores of paintings every now and then. Thanks for your keen observation and suggestions sir.

[D Akey]

Yes. And I know that on occasion you have copied carefully because you have posted them. And they usually represented big jumps. Clearly I have been unfair saying that, because some of your work has been really nice, like the waves and so forth. Very good work on those.

However, what this painting looks like is you took the painting up to about 75% finished and then just noodled in some linear stuff all over hoping it would look like rock. And I believe it would help tremendously if you looked at a very clear picture because it might suggest to you solid things to do where the source image is leading you rather than you having to fake what you aren't very familiar with painting. There is a relationship possible between the subject and the painter where it teaches. Whether it's a valuable thing to do shows up in the quality of painting. It may be like taking 2 steps back to jump 2 miles forward.

Again, this is just me making an armchair guess. But your situation is not unknown to me. I had a similar problem at one point and it far too often held me back greatly because back in the day I had a hard time finding good and necessary reference to paint for what I was trying to illustrate. And I had to fake it and I was successful only a portion of the time and it hurt my career until I got past that sticking point. But now, with the internet having so many images to choose from right at your fingertips, it seems a crime to not take advantage of something so useful. So that's where I'm coming from. So take it with a grain of salt. But I wasn't kidding in that I didn't know what to say beyond that until you're in the same ballpark I am familiar with. And since I can't see into your head, all I can do is compare what your paintings show with things I have seen in the world.

But, no kidding, keep the joy level up at all costs. The rest sorts itself out.