Drskmishra

[D Akey]

Love the colors and values. Has a nice sense of movement. I like how you direct your brush strokes as flowing water moves. It's also not a bad thing to keep that in mind for doing paintings of other subjects -- that the rhythms created that way add a layer of design that enhances the visual experience and creates a aesthetic sense to show what order the artist saw in the subject. That speaks to a higher level of why we would bother looking through the artist's eyes. It's an overall sense to the subject rather than just a bunch of random daubs. Musicians well understand this. It sometimes takes painters a little longer because they can get away with not doing it. But when they do, the art really sings.

[Drskmishra]

Sir, thats what I've started to appreciate. The shadows, the colours, the brush movements......its undoubtedly a long process! But im keen to learn, thanks for opening up new vistas for me!

[Drskmishra]

Been trying to learn more of waves, shadows, depths, water, rocks, foam and all. Any improvements? Looking forward to suggestions from all please.

[D Akey]

Very nice! I see a lot of great progress in your work.

Again, I love your colors - bright and appealing to view. The brushwork is thoughtful in that you choose the type of marks you want to use that is logical to distance (less detailed) and close up (sharper and more detailed). The wave definitely looks like a wave. Overall very pleasant painting. I get the feeling of the ocean as seen through your eyes. Well done.

Keep your momentum going because it is this momentum where you'll find yourself making lots of progress. You'll see how it plays out specific to you. It's almost always quick and slow and quick etc. Hard to track it for a formula to the speed. Just maintain the joy of it and it will come in its own timing.

[Drskmishra]

Thanks for the encouragement sir, been thinking of doing seagulls for long. Have given it a try, as in a close up photograph, any good?

[Mike A]

The seagull's great - nice sense of colour and hue across the palate.

The painting of the waves is also very good - I loved the splashing of the surf and the wave/pool patterns on the sand. The only comment I would make - and obviously I'm used to colder UK waters - is that the blue of the open sea might be a little less vibrant to more easily morph into the greener surf. But, as I say, we don't get seas that blue over here!

[D Akey]

Very nice. I think something you may want to bear in mind (in the naturalistic direction you appear to be going) is the volume of the bird. What makes that work in terms of volume is to think of the lighting. One can relate shapes in nature to primitive dimensional objects like a sphere, cyllinder, box and so forth for creating the illusion of mass. Those lighting tricks show form. Simple but it works.

Right now your sandpiper generally separates out fine into a distinct shape and because we can easily recognize it, our mind completes the picture. It's all a matter of how far you want to take the illusion of what we see plus how much artistic flair do you want to infuse. You have a painterly quality going on in many of your seascapes so it's clear you have the chops. It's now a matter of where and how you want to apply it.

Perhaps if you think of the bird with the focus you brought to the waves you might find your painting having more of an overall completion. It's fine now. Good stuff is happening. It's just if you want to take it even farther.

Nice one!

[Drskmishra]

The seagull's great - nice sense of colour and hue across the palate.

The painting of the waves is also very good - I loved the splashing of the surf and the wave/pool patterns on the sand. The only comment I would make - and obviously I'm used to colder UK waters - is that the blue of the open sea might be a little less vibrant to more easily morph into the greener surf. But, as I say, we don't get seas that blue over here!

Valid point, Mike! The colours could have been more in sync, completely agree. Thanks for your kind suggestion, and yes, the waters are cold in your place, at least in Scotland( my personal experience!), but UK is beautiful!

[Drskmishra]

Have tried to do this coastline with green patch. Seeking suggestions from all please.

[D Akey]

Well, personal taste here:

The straight black is fighting the rest of the sky and water and sand parts of the picture so it pops out as jarring to the eye.

All the vegetation is basically handled the same way (same colors including the black) so it flattens out and loses the illusion of depth.

A suggestion would be to mix your darks using a dark value of a color that relates more to the overall key color and tone of the whole (look up "atmospheric perspective"). That's what I would do anyway. Remember, you're painting a painting, not a photo and you have to think like an artist and take things beyond the literal.

Why then does it work in a photo? In large part it's because people don't question a photo and because the photo is far more subtle and detailed than your painting. People will question paintings if they don't feel right, regardless of whether the viewer knows why something is off.