Riffing on Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen 6x8
Welcome to another tonal landscape oil painting demonstration. The painting I'm bringing you today is called "Riffing on Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen 6 x 8, ". I'm calling it a riff, but it was changed so dramatically from Julius's painting that it's hardly recognizable as being influenced by his original. It could have easily gotten away with just saying I came up with it.
Riffing on Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen 6x8
If you're interested to see what's up with those changes , the live video is there in my YouTube Members Area. At the beginning of all the recent live members area videos, I put my reference images up. In this case, I put my adjusted reference image up and Julius's original. So check that out if you are interested!
One of the big changes I made from his painting is to the river and the tree, in his original, he had a tree coming out of the closer bank and then the tree back behind. Also, the foreground tree was tilted. I don't like tilted trees at all. I don't think they work compositionally. You can really get too tight when painting reflections. Watch out for that because reflections in the water should never be stiff, they should be loose with everything just roughly reflected in the approximate places they should be. This painting is pretty much Alla Prima. I did the drawing-underpainting in the morning, then came back and painted the rest of it in the afternoon, and that worked well. It's good to break up the painting process into various stages.
Let's talk about overworking paintings. It's almost inevitable that you will at some point. That's why often times there are many things I would like to add to my paintings, but I don't. I just leave it at the Alla Prima stage so the painting stays fresh. Many times in my YouTube members area while a painting is coming together live, you'll hear me say, "That's it. I'm going to leave it alone. I'm going to let it breathe. I'm going to let it live."
There's something to be said for how you initially interpret the reference, whether it's a plein air scene outdoors or if you have a photographic reference. It doesn't really matter, you're looking at something and then you're making a painting from it. There's a lot to be said for that initial impetus and carring that through quickly. Sometimes later on, when your future self comes in and wants to paint in the piece, that's not the same person, so you really want to weigh putting the painting back up on the easel very seriously. There's a lot that you'll be losing by going over your initial fresh painting if you do. I'm telling you what's wise and true for me. You may find that you need to overwork a lot of paintings of your own before you've learned the lesson for yourself.
Until I come back with another video and blog post for your edification and enjoyment, take good care of yourself, stay out of trouble, God bless you and your family!
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy