Some parts of this website will not work with Internet Explorer.

Please use a different browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

Back to Original

Valley of Tranquility

Voy Kay 21 Dec 2020

Not bad after some painting inactivity for one week yet I should not have followed Bob with his sky. He tried something different and I should not have followed him or ... maybe I should have to learn that I did it wrong.
No worries, the rest kinda worked out well I believe.

Canvas used was a budget 12"x16" and this was painted in some 90 minutes. Nothing difficult at all here or it was .... the sky.

Oils
Featured Article Who can see the world from a true & genuine perspective never needs glasses

Comments

MHK Helpful Friendly User

Sky is an easy fix as everything is fantastic, as usual,

Voy Kay Conqueror of Challenges

Thanks MHK, not sure if I will have a go at that sky, since I hardly know how to fix it.
I'm very happy with my bushes! Lately, those seem to go very well and I am quite please I might have mastered that!

Love the big tree!

Voy Kay Conqueror of Challenges

Thanks Umagaan, I was never more confident then painting this one. It truly felt like it was hidden in my fanbrush and just needed to be bristled out!

😁 good for you, I still have to force mine to come out😉

One of the best pieces of advice I got on this forum was from Felix after I submitted my first painting. I was trying too hard to emulate Bob Ross's technique of wet-on-wet while painting in acrylics which was not working out, especially when it came to shadowing of mountains and painting clouds. His advice was don't try to stick too closely to Bob's technique and work with your own medium, not against it. I don't know about oils, but in acrylics, you could easily change one aspect of the painting if you don't like it. At any rate, your painting looks great and very much Bob Ross style.

Voy Kay Conqueror of Challenges

Thanks for your cheers and advice Gassanba!
I like trying out styles so that's why I followed Bob iso doing it my way, like I often do. It is true that one should be hesitant at times to strictly follow the master and that's a lesson I learned again with this creation.

Thanks for the huge comliment, I view and specially read Bob a lot to try and determine his style and techniques better. It works and finally, after one year, it is paying off!

Voy, I tried this technique one time for the clouds and did not like it either. I think this method kills the volume in the clouds.

The rest is great. I like the big tree the most. Is it fan brush? I think bushes in front have nice separation between each other. I still struggle when too many bushes need to be put together.

Voy Kay Conqueror of Challenges

It is true Sunnylady, that sky style seems so unnatural and gives conflict.

That big evergreen was made I think in 30 seconds for the background, 5 seconds for the stern and a little over one minute for the highlights. I specially paid attention to the shape/form and for the rest, that just jumped out of my nr. 4 waver brush, a soft one.
The distant trees were done with a Ross fan brush (nr. 3) yet those bristles are VERY hard, so never use those for evergreens or palm trees.
The softer fan brushes give me far more control over shape AND hold the paint better so in turn, they add the paint better on the canvas.
One thing though .... there also exists (very) soft fan brushes and also some with fewer bristles on them. Both are rubbish to use with these kind of paintings and would only suit for other painting mediums, never oils.
Trust me, I had experience with it!

The tsunami of bushes .... I hate it as well yet here, I felt like Braveheart and although I initially wanted to create a path in between at first, I decided to have a go and just made certain of three things.
1. Variation of colour.
2. Keep enough dark/shadow in between them (I use a small round brush).
3. Swipe some sterns with the knife to create volume, diversity and distance.

Sign in to leave a comment.


Not a member yet?
Join over 5500 other painters and share your paintings with the world!

Register now