Second version of birch trees in early fall have more feeling and story to them.

I read Robert Genn's post this morning about:-"Yesterday, Dan McGrath of Lexington, Kentucky, wrote, "I consider myself an experienced landscape painter, but I see advice from successful artists: 'Paint what you feel about a subject, not just what you see.' As an ex-engineer, I don't have a clue what I feel about a subject except that I love being outdoors and being in the places I visit. How does one recognize or introduce emotion into a scene? Is it bright colors, strong value contrasts, or what?" Robert Genn's Painter's Keys 

This is something that has puzzled me all along with my painting. I thought perhaps it would come with time and increased proficiency. I always have a strong feeling about what I'm painting. Even if it is only awe at the beauty of nature, or the way the light glows in orange sections. Trying to get this feeling across by giving the viewer visual clues that tell a story is more than using lines, colours, strong value contrasts, diffferent textures and all the other thousands of technical things you can do. It's all these variables and more and their relationships to each other as they come together, that evoke emotion and feeling, some kind of response from the viewer. The trick is to get these things right. You know it when you see it in other artists' work, it's just that harder to see in your own work because it is filtered by your perceptions. The doubts about whether somebody will 'get it" start crawling in.

 

I painted Birches in Early Fall a couple of weeks ago as a study based on a painting by Zoltan Szabo that I found in his book, Landscape Painting in Watercolour . (I didn't think he would mind if I only used it to learn, as he had many exercises in the book to teach watercolour painting.) My sister Rita sent it to me from Thunder Bay Ontario. It was published in 1971 ( the year I met my husband!)

 

The study turned out fairly well, but the overcast sky and the lighter left side of the painting bothered me. (I just didn't have the skill to pull it off with apparent simplicity of brush strokes that Szabo does... no kidding eh! lol!) I can't post the reference photo because it is in the book and scanning it didn't capture it well, so I painted it by looking at it in the book.) I was about to print it today to see how it looked, but after reading Robert Genn's post I thought I would take a stab at putting some emotion into it. So, I sat quietly for awhile and thought of Indian summer days. The light in the first painting looked like it was earlier in the afternoon, but now the birch leaves have started to rustle, the wind is picking up and it's suddenly gotten colder. Heavy grey clouds are building up over the tree tops. A clear signal  that summer is over and winter not far. There is a feeling of danger at the rapidly approaching storm, and a reminder of the forces of nature...I'll leave you to finish this story...however you'd like. :)

 

Feel free to comment on both versions and please let me know which one you like best, or hate most! (It won't hurt my feelings. Honest!)

 

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