Friday, September 1, 2017

MIXING IT UP!!

HAASTRECHT, NETHERLANDS


I am usually not inspired to paint landscapes except when I travel.  This was a scene  from our boat trip on the waterways from Amsterdam to Brugge earlier this summer.  Nice that the camera records where you are when you take the shot,  otherwise I wouldn't know this was from the village of Haastecht, which is very near Gouda.  The long, narrow canvas was a challenge.  I had to create a more simplified and interesting foreground than in the photo.   I also enjoyed the challenge of mixing various greens.   Mixing it up by using a different canvas proportion, different perspective and unexpected greens created a personal vision for a landscape.

There are at least two other paintings underneath this one.  I lose track sometimes as to what lies beneath!  Nice to finally feel satisfied and I can move on.  Eventually they all find a satisfying finished painting, but lots and lots of false starts.  The build up does make for an interesting surface.  This one has a coat of gesso that I used a sponge roller over the top.  When it dried, it had a very rough finish.  Paint scumbles beautifully on this surface but it chews up brushes so don't use good sable on this type of surface.

With every painting, I try to learn something new.   I explored surface and color mixing and think I have added to my ongoing attempt to master painting in acrylic. How boring it would be to know it all.    Fortunately, there is always something new to learn.  

11 comments:

Karen Knutson said...

Beautiful painting. And I love how you built a memory by painting from your trip. Gorgeous!

Sonia said...

This is really nice Myrna - I like the way you have magnified the foreground, leaving a glimpse of the building beyond.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thanks, Karen and Sonia. Painting from photos taken on a trip extends the joy of travel and leaves a lasting memory to view over and over. Photos tend to get buried and forgotten after awhile. I am hoping to create a few more paintings while lthey are still fresh in my memory.

Meera Rao said...

'False starts' is so much better way of looking at those that just don't make the cut :) This one resolved beautifully ! I agree with you and I too I find I get more adventurous when painting over the 'false starts' - nothing to lose, fun to experiment. And I love to fill up travel sketchbooks - and peek into others travel paintings :) thanks for sharing !

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thanks, Meera. Your travel sketches are a joy to see.

Kim Minichiello said...

Beautiful! Hope to see more landscapes!

RH Carpenter said...

A very interesting perspective: we are lying in the grass, looking through it to the little church :) Love it!

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thanks, Kim. I plan to do a few more from the trip.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thank you, Rhonda. Actually the photo was taken from the water so I was able to get an unusually low perspective . Lying in the grass sounds wonderful. I like your imagination!

Michelle Himes said...

Love the painting, and the narrow vertical composition. Are you going to do more landscapes?

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thanks, Michelle, I am struggling with an abstract right now. I will probably do more landscapes from time to time but faces always draw me back!

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