[Aquanet] February Member Critique

[Barry Lindley]

Barry D. Lindley
Paintings and Drawings
www.BarryLindleyArt.com
 

Hi, Louise-

Your painting has an interesting quality, and the three figures are
well-drawn.  You have linked the three masses with shade and shadow, and the
shadow on the bench is nicely chromatic.  The choice of an angled bench adds
interest compared to a conventional, more restful straight horizontal
subject.

The figures on the bench seem floating in space, however, and I think you
may have let the photograph mislead you on the most effective way to handle
the shadow values and chromaticity.  This is especially so in the cast
shadow on the right figure. This is an easy trap to fall into.  When we look
at a scene with a wide dynamic range of light, our focus roams through the
scene, and the eye adjusts to see into the very dark areas.  The camera just
averages exposure, unless one uses spot-metering very carefully.  Thus the
photo print will show very dark shadows with little detail or chroma, which
is not how we saw it.  The painting will be more effective if you use other
ways to give the effect of wide dynamic range, but actually have chromatic
darks that are not totally dark.  This whole matter depends a little on what
you really want to say about the subject, of course.  Sometimes you may want
the very stark contrast.

I agree that the left side of the background is weak.  I keep wanting
something to establish clearly the horizontal, and something to link the
figure group to the distance.  Establishing the horizontal becomes important
because of the angle of the bench, which gives dynamism and interest to the
painting, compared to a simply horizontal subject, but also requires
resolution.

The bench appears to be floating, and I can't read the purple-brown masses
in front and behind.  Are they seats? Shadows?  If shadows, the angle is
wrong for the light source (as cued by the shadows of the figures), and the
color ought to be similar to the cast shadows on the bench top.  The back of
the bench legs surely would be in slightly deeper shade than the rear edge
of the bench top, especially where they curve in.  What are the light
streaks in the bench shadow? Bounce light from the legs? Reflections on a
shiny dark patch?  What is going on at the right end with that vertical edge
to the dark brown shape?  It can't be the shadow of anything, because of the
angle.  

The bench shadow - I am assuming that is your intent - could serve to plant
the group and bench on the surface.  You would need to indicate something of
the nature of the surface (pavement? dirt? grass?), then carefully draw the
shadow with the correct shape for the bench/people/light source, then carry
the hue of the shadow on the bench top into the shadow of the bench,
allowing for local color as modified by the sky light which is illuminating
the shadow.  It is that blue-violet sky light that gives the lovely color to
the cast shadow on the white (?) bench top.

This would be a good subject to approach through a 3-value study, linking as
much of the shade/shadow as possible and concentrating on seeing the correct
form to it.

Pardon me for going on at such length.  The painting is worth continuing and
thinking about, though, and perhaps the things I am talking about don't
concern others.

Barry