In Hopper's painting of Captain Strout's house, the light is very dramatic, coming from the back right ... it looks as if it's very early morning and the sun is low. The house is much darker with strong, large shadows on the lawn; my painting was done using a photograph of the house taken at a time of day without dramatic light.
The same is true for Lighthouse Hill: the light in Hopper's is almost theatrical.
Realizing this handicap of the photos (and of my "vision"), I put the shadow wash on the front of the building (not as dark as Hopper's, but all one shape, like his). For me, that makes it.
I hope I can remember and apply this when I do my own paintings!
Hello Laura. These are great. I visit your blog frequently and always enjoy what I see. Wonderful work overall. Thanks for publishing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amalia. I visited your blog. Your watercolors are very good! The baby is lovely, but I am astonished that "Monty" is your first animal painting--it's fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked Monty. I was a bit intimidated painting him. He took two weekends to paint and I went really slow; tried to plan every brush stroke.
ReplyDeleteLovely, both of these. I like what you did with them regardless of the dramatic light or lack thereof. That's how we learn.
ReplyDeleteHi laura, I really find Hoppers work inspirational.. they have a cool, somewhat detached observational feeling...I really like this manner of describing a subject...
ReplyDeletelove your sensitive interpretations