PROJECT 5 COMPOSITION MORE

September afternoon on Flanders Moss

Returned to painting after about 6 weeks.  Felt stuck on this one again, but suddenly picked up a brush and laid into it.  Realised I had the field on the left wrong size,  Whatever, now it works and I could go on with it.

View from top window towards Bannockburn (unfinished)

This is the second part of the composition project.  When you are asked to do a painting straight off without preparatory line, tonal or colour studies.  As usual my first impressions were all wrong.  I was drawn to the tree as a dark shape and only realised over working on it that the tree and background are medium in  tone, and that the garden hedge (there is a road there too) are just as important.  Not complete yet, but today (26th September) took it from messy tonal study based on a greyscale photo to colour.  It has been through several stages of tonal and colour and adjustment of composition already.

It started to work today when I stopped thinking so much and let my brushes take over.  Tree needs a bit more so does the hedge, but now I think I have the composition all right, good as it is going to be for now, and the colours near enough.