Comments on Painting

Sunday I posted a photograph of a painting-in-progress that I have, quite unimaginatively, called Boathouse.  The inspiration for this painting is a photograph I took of an old boathouse on the lake where we spend time every summer.  So it is a real place that is being more or less realistically portrayed.  I have chosen to show an early dawn sky even though the sun does not rise where I have placed it in my version and that is one of the perks of painting.  The painter can change reality.

 

However, a painter should not change the rules of nature without very good reason and considerable deliberation.  That was pointed out to me by my brother in a comment he made (remember I asked for comments?).  He reminded me that if the sun were rising where I had it and at that time of day, the shadows cast by objects such as the rocks would be quite different from the shadows I had portrayed.  He went on to detail how the shadows would be different.  Then he also mentioned that the colors would be altered by the sun at the horizon line, also. 

 

Let me tell you; I printed his comments and scotch-taped them to my easel.  Until last Sunday, I had no sun and no dawn so both shadows and colors were all right (maybe not great but at least headed in the right direction).  When I decided to add an early dawn, I put in the sun and added a few hints of appropriate color in both lake and sky though not enough for anyone (my brother) to notice.  I had not thought through the impact on my painting of the changes I had arbitrarily made.  That's why the comment is taped on my easel - as a reminder for the future as well as for now.  My brother thinks about his work.  His approach includes the necessary cerebral exercises while mine is clearly quite slapdash. 

 

Then there was also a comment from Esther.  She is concerned about the perspective of the boathouse from the point of view I have chosen (I imagine myself on a nearby rock on the lower right of the painting).  I feel that my perspective is correct, but her comment tells me that as I have represented it in my painting, it is not believable or understandable to other viewers.  Unfortunately, I forgot to discuss it with my teacher today (we were working on other issues), but clearly, I need to.  What I will say to Esther is to give me a little more time to "set the stage" with the support under the boathouse which will anchor it in the painted landscape.  When I paint again, I will turn the canvas upside down which will give me an inverted view of what I have actually "drawn" rather than what I think I have drawn.  That upside down trick really works, by the way. 

 

The third comment was from ME who suggested an addition.  She thought a boat in the lake would add to the composition, and I agree that the left side of the painting may seem a bit empty.  However, that emptiness is deliberate.  The way I remember this scene is how silent it was, how serene, and how devoid of civilization.  I'd like to be able to convey that even when humans are present (the boathouse symbolizes a human presence has been there), it possible to experience that quiet, that peace.  I may need to go back to the misty morning with no dawn! 

 

This is why I ask for comments.  They are so very helpful in making me think about what I am doing, defend my choices, and explain my intentions.  So don't be shy about voicing your thoughts.