OK, I could use some help here. This is an original painting that I wanted to try a technique for doing submerged rocks. The rocks came out pretty good but the thing that ruins this painting is the reflections in the water. They look just terrible! I don’t know what happened. I thought I did everything the way Bob does but the paint just seemed very thick and sticky. I’m wondering if it’s because I did not use enough liquid white underneath. Any tips or advice to help me not do this again would be appreciated.
It almost looks like the liquid white dried a bit too much before you applied the reflections. How much time between liquid white and reflections. Also I have seen that 'sticking' effect when I don't have enough liquid white on. It looks like the surface was not slick enough when the reflections were applied.
Now, on the bright side, I absolutely love this painting. The underwater rocks look very good, the background trees and hill are excellent, as is the sky.
Also, is this canvas or canvas board? Canvas boards dry way quicker than a stretched canvas. Was the canvas coated with gesso first? If not gessoed, the canvas could absorb a lot of the LW making it dry too quickly. Just tossing ideas out there.
This was a primed and gessoed Canvas. I’m thinking it may be an issue with the liquid white trying to fast. I’m a little paranoid about putting on too much liquid white so I tend to go very, very thin with it. However, for this application maybe I just need to be a bit more generous with the liquid white. I don’t paint a whole painting in a half hour, like Bob. This painting took me about 3 1/2 hours. I do have one other issue and that is regarding the background mountain. It looks like a giant hill of grass and I wanted it to be a more distant mountain like we have in the Adirondacks. How do I make it look like the mountain is covered in trees rather than grass?
Midnite Painter, I just watched the video of mirrored images and you could be right. Upward strokes rather than downward might have helped me in the situation. I do think your idea combined with a thicker coat of liquid white would probably solve my issue. Thanks for the suggestion.
What a great job on your submerged rocks and everything else!
Thanks, Cronenberg89. The transition from shallow to deeper water looks a little strange. It should get darker as it gets deeper instead of lighter. I think it’s the liquid white underneath. I want to try this again with black gesso underpainting, or maybe even liquid black.
Love it....maybe add some of the reflected colour to your reflections,?
Brian, this is an amazing painting! You totally nailed the submerged rocks!
Your reflections don’t look bad at all. I think if you give it a day or 2, you’ll see that too. As far as your liquid white… did you mix it with some titanium white? If so, that is why it’s too thick. I only use liquid white by itself for my reflections. I put some on my palette and lightly dip the edge of my knife in that small amount. If I see there is too much, I touch the edge of my knife on my palette to remove the excess. That should give you just a little liquid white to test it in your canvas. I get paranoid too. I learned quickly that too much can make a major mess.
I did not mix it with titanium white. I just prepped the canvas with liquid white. What are your thoughts on the mountain? It looks like a giant hill covered in grass. I want it to be a mountain covered in trees, but off in the distance.
tel, Believe it or not, I did have colors in the reflections. You can just barely see how they smeared off but the dark under paint color did not. Very weird situation with this. The dark color was very sticky but the highlight color slid right off.
Just my thoughts re the trees on the mountains (I’m no expert btw) maybe add a couple of more sticky up ones on the ridge line, like the one that’s already there. Maybe a couple, with less detail, in the body of the mountain. Also re the distance, remember that yellow is the first colour to drop out so make sure the colour is desaturated/on the cool/blue side. All that said, I think it is lovely and am impressed by the mountains as they are. Great job.
I just googled Appalachian mountains since they are more rounded than the Rockies. Most of them look just like your painting. The trees in those mountains look like thousands of little dark green bushes. It could be a “texture” thing that give you the impression that it seems like a giant hill of grass.
I didn’t see the giant grassy hill until you pointed it out. I saw a green mountain at first. 🫠 I personally like it!
Great suggestions and advice. Thanks, everyone! I’m going to redo this painting and when I do, I will post it as the new and improved version!
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The submerged rocks look good, in “Mirrored Images” he does a gentle up stroke instead of down like usual to keep the shape.