Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Queen and York, Toronto On

18x18 Oil on Canvas
We can learn a lot from fellow artists and their comments. Mike Barr paints beautiful rainy scenes and absolutely amazing beach scenes, all very atmospheric. He recently left a suggestion on one of my postings to try something different. He said to "do a whole painting with a fairly big flat brush then spend just a few minutes at the end with a small one for detail..it will help your painting a lot and it's FUN ;-)"
I tried his suggestion with this painting, and I think I like the result. I probably spent a little too much time on the details but everything takes time. Check out his work here.

12 comments:

Kim Rempel said...

Catherine! I love this!! I think this is my favourite piece of yours yet. The brush worked for you (or you were working that brush!). And I really like your palette.

Edward Burton said...

Wonderfully atmospheric, Catherine. The reflections are perfect as always. Beautiful!

Marie Theron said...

Yes, I also love the method that you and Mike use, Catherine, because that is the only way something gets done in a short time. My large brush is an angled shader which gives a flat as well a knife-point edge. And then a #5 round, nothing too small. Like you, I prefer moods before sharp sunlight. The atmosphere in this painting is dramatic and keeps the eye interested.

Tammy Hext said...

I think you have just had a jump forward in your work Catherine - if that is possible - it was already fabulous. This is my new favourite too. It just glows - couldn't wait to enlarge it to have a good look.
Tammy

Janelle Goodwin said...

I thought this painting looked a little different, and then I read the text. Yes, it has delicious atmosphere and completely draws the viewer in!

Sarah said...

Great atmosphere, as usual. The large brush works well, great idea. I also find it very hard to prevent overworking and this method does help. Thanks for the link to Mike Barr's work too. He has some lovely stuff.

Claire Beadon Carnell said...

This is incredible, Catherine. I have to admit that I am really drawn to paintings with atmosphere and great composition, and this nailed down both perfectly. Gutsy painting - fantastic!

Ramesh Jhawar said...

I'm not sure whether my comment got posted so here it is again
I like this painting! Very atmospheric and nice dark values!

Gwen Bell said...

I really like this one, Catherine! That strong light falling down the entire center of the canvas gives it great drama. I also like the dark horizontal and vertical lines of the buildings facing each other from opposite sides of the street.

Catherine Jeffrey said...

Thank you everyone for your comments.
Tammy, I feel that this could be a turning point as well. Approaching each painting with this method of using a larger brush will help my work a lot. If only I can stick with it and not get into the details so much! It must be worked wet into wet as well.

Mike Barr said...

You can really walk into this one Catherine! The depth is very good and hope you enjoyed the process..
cheers
Mike

Anonymous said...

Something really clicks on this one. I love the vertical band of highlight down the center, the subtle and not so subtle interplay of verticals and horizontal elements, and then those bits of bright color! it all just works so well.