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Morning Mist Part Three - a digital watercolour in progress Link to Part One
Finished off yesterday's post with quite a few problems in the painting still. I'm going to keep struggling through this because I think it will force me to learn something. Maybe you will find that totally uninteresting, but at least I'm being honest and thorough about showing you the processes I go through to paint a digital watercolour. It's one thing to read about and see examples of the concepts I need to learn to improve, and another to apply them to my work.  I think the absence of colour is really throwing me off. For example the tree reflections in the water aren't convincing ( a nice member on Painter Talk pointed that out in a nicer way, I had posted yesterdays results in the Work In Progress Forum) and the mountainous mass on the left side isn't dark enough in places. (I wasn't quite done in all fairness. lol!)
If I had painted the reflections in colour there likely would have been a colour differentiation from the actual trees. Going only by the values I have them way too dark, even if they are very dark, the water has to change the way they look. How is the big question??
The big white hole in the trees looks almost like a focal point and it ain't supposed to (if my focal point is supposed to be in one of those magic spots.)
Another painter on Painter Talk Forum took the trouble to repaint the parts she thought needed work. I'm quite flattered by that! I've asked her if I can post it here, but since she hasn't replied yet...and I want to move on with this, I'm going to post her reply and version
without mentioning her name as yet. This is what she wrote:
" Hello Joan,
I'm going to critique your piece like I would like someone to review my paintings. I'm into 'what if's' and have painted on your wonderful landscape...probably a big NO NO but I often put my foot in my mouth. I do not know a lot about Japanese landscapes but I'm throwing in my 2 cents about landscapes. I've attached my thoughts on what changes I would make if this wonderful piece was on my easel. I love your soft golds and grays. I added 100 pixels to the top of your painting...the horizon split your painting dead center on my monitor, tried to put the horizon in the bottom third of the painting. I removed the heavy reflections on the right and put them closer to the trees and couldn't resist adding a few highlights. I reduced the amount of reeds in the water. I added more dark clouds to your sky on the left hand side. Again, just my take on it. I often break general 'rules' of art for good and bad reasons. Just ignore me if I've gotten it wrong! I love your work and wish I was in your class! Thanks, Judith Huey (updated and used with her permission)
Here is what she did with the Work in Progress...
 I think it's very cool that we can do this so easily digitally. Very effective teaching method isn't it! I like her version quite a bit. Removing the heavy tree reflections in the water have the effect of making that area look further away, which puts it in better perspective with the rest of the painting.
In the original value sketch (In Part One) there weren't any high mountains and the scene was from a closer view. Lesson learned is when you make major changes mid painting you must make sure they fit in with the rest of the painting.
I have inserted the whole painting into a larger sized canvas to move the horizon and add to the sky area. I like my paintings to fit standard mat and frame dimensions, so it's now 9.5 in. by 7.5 in. which can be resized up and down easily to fit easily obtainable mats.
 Does it look like this is going to work? What am I going to do in all that white space, and the lake looks kind of unbalanced now...this is harder than I thought it would be! It looks more balanced in the version done by my fellow painter. She didn't add as much on top as I did.
I'm going to have to play around with this. I'm too stubborn to quit yet!
More later....
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