Hi, Students!
To encourage you to keep painting between classes, feel free to use this forum for help and suggestions. Simply email a photo of your work in progress along with your questions. Let me know whether you prefer that I use your full name, first name, or just initials. Feel free to comment on my comments!
If you aren't one of my students, I'm still happy to give you ideas as time allows, to help everyone to learn.
Dear Valorie,
I am working on this painting which
finally makes me happy. Any Suggestions? I
followed the old masters technique, re reading your notes and trying to apply them, instead of thinking I was applying them. "D"
Your painting is looking good! The light on the
buildings has a pleasing atmospheric quality, and the composition works well. The distant mountains recede back from the ones in front. My eye moves from the building in front, up the road to the back buildings, then to the mountains. Nice! I also like your orange and blue complementary color scheme. This painting has a lovely feel to it.
My suggestion would be to vary the background peaks. They feel a bit too pointy and pretty similar to each other. You could also change the angle
of that background range. If they really look that way, see if you can give them more variety in shape and size. You might also gray down the blue in that range a bit to make it recede even more. Do the same for the sky - just tone it down a bit, and lighten it as it gets closer to the horizon.
The angle of the cloud shape behind the mountains resembles the angle of those mountains. Can you break the cloud up and perhaps make it more horizontal? Right now it looks like 3 almost parallel shapes - the
clouds, background mountains and the right foreground mountains.
You have some pretty intense blue right behind that front roof (I know you're not finished yet). You can keep it dark, just tone down the intensity to push it back. Lastly, don't forget to choose your focal point and give it more definition.
This may seem like a lot, but these are simple changes. You've done the hard part. Let me know how it goes! Thank you for sharing your work! Valorie
Outdoor one-day workshop dates are finalized! 
