Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Case of the Evening Hay Bales

"The neighbour rolled his hay this afternoon.  I just had to get out there and paint them last night.  I didn't have much time.  The sun was going down."

Hayfield 1 As Done

" I really like it" exclaimed my good wife.  Well, that brought back an echo from Harold.  "People buy any kind of crap".  I passed that echo on to my wife who said, "I just like it".  "What is it you like about it" I asked?  "I like the colours".  Aha!  So, in this case maybe the vibrant colours covered up the rest of the painting's attributes.

We had been talking about the eye level and its use in representational painting.  More specifically, we were talking about evolving as a painter who is learning to Paint (more or less) what you see.  (It is important to understand context in your development.  After all there are no absolute rights or wrongs.)

Here is the first email response to Monica.

"Here are a few images showing the eye level and the lines used to size the hay bales.  You should have this my measuring during observation.

"The last image shows the distance from the viewer and thus the sizes for that distance.  Let me know if this makes sense to you please.

Of course in nature the sizes do have some variation - makes it more interesting, but not THIS much.  Makes the painting look like the painter didn't know or observe.
"

Hayfield 1   Eye Level

The eye level was shown according to what the painting image told me.  Monica confirmed.  There was a dip in the field putting the bales below the eye line.  That will affect how the bales are drawn.

Hayfield 1  Simplified Linear Perspective Lines with Distance Planes

This diagram shows the distance of various bales from the observer.

Next issue concerns "Values".

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