Essentials Cafe

Original photo was taken at Chateau Chennonceaux in France in 2006.

I loved this cute little cottage which was part of the working farm that supported the Chateau.

I used Gouache but didn't completely like what the auto paint had done.  So used a smeary brush to blend it out a bit more.

I added the foliage in the front to try and draw the eye into the picture.

Was it successful?  I'm not sure....you tell me what you think.....

It's a very nice picture, Dianne. My one query is whether it needs a bit more contrast of light and shade. I think the flowers work well.

Pretty good composition dianne! I love the house, and the foliage does draw the eye in. Still, a bit more contrast in lighting would help energize things; was it cloudy when you took this?

I like the experimentation here, it almost looks like a design for a ceramic model, and is very different to the norm, and very successful. I too would have preferred more contrast, and a little more shadow to create shape and form, but this doesn't have to be a finished artwork, they never do, we can always go back, but if we all put up "finished" artwork it would get boring. Surely the point of this forum is to learn from each other, we all have our own likes and dislikes, take me for instance, I absolutely adore watercolour as a medium, and I can't handle the anaemic results when using the real thing, how awkward is that? Perhaps one day I might get cataracts just like Monet, and adapt to a new vision, but whilst the child within me has still got pots of poster paint in my head, I will enjoy colour while my vision lasts. You have yet again done an artwork which could be a success as a card for a young girl, and long may you continue to do so, there is nothing wrong with a girlie approach, and a soft gentle children's illustration type of artwork, to tell the truth I wish I could get out of my love of strong colour sometimes, and get in touch with my feminine side which must be there if we are a mixture of hormones.

Now, i know i dont know much about painting, but i have to be different here. I love the almost pastel feel to it and will have to remember to try this on some shots i have taken in the cotswolds where i used to live. I really like it dianne. The smeary brush seems to have done the trick. Good work

Thanks for the comments everyone.

In answer to the light and shade issue....Yes it was an overcast day.  It didn't occur to me when I was painting this to add any shadows. And Yes I agree it would definitely have given it a differnt feel.  I actually felt quite vunerable posting this as it seemed like the little childs picture of the story book house, but I liked the idea of trying out adding something to draw your eye into the composition. So thanks Tolouse for your comments about turning this work into a card.

Everyone's encouraging comments here are helping me to gain more confidence about the work I have done, and has helped me start to show a few friends here at home what I have been doing.  I've been having the most fabulous time playing with my huge collection of photos taken on various holidays etc and getting to use them and PLAY. 

I'm also greatly enjoying chatting to all of you. 

I am amazed that you seem to feel that 'a story book house' may be something unflattering dianne as I think some of the art in story books is just fabulous. This is to me fit for a story book and it made me think of the Hansel and Gretal fairy story.

I think the child-like simplicity adds to its charm, but I don't think for one moment that it is childish in any way, shape or form. I agree with Tolouse, it would make a lovely card, but also it is the sort of picture that would go on notelets and as a watermark style background for headed note paper. It is charming and I am glad you overcame your vulnerable feeling and shared it with us.

 

Never feel vulnerable posting a picture Dianne, like most folks here you are far better than you give yourself credit for. This forum is not a competition, and there is nobody on here that will ever look down upon another, or even be super critical, and if they do I will flick paint at them. We are all in this together, and we will all get better and better in time, and as new members join us we can help, and share some of our techniques with them. Take Squirrel for instance, she has had no art training whatsoever, and just playing and using her imagination alone produced a stunning image out of nothing but an old tractor. If Squirrel can do it anybody can. Let me tell you a little story, many years ago whilst working as a photographer I had to reproduce and enlarge some artwork which was going to be used in a documentary, and I was fortunate enough to meet Pablo Picasso, and asked him did he have any ambitions left for his art, (most people know him for his surrealism or cubism art, but he was a fine artist too, and was perfectly capable of photo-realistic art for want of a better expression) his answer was " Si Signor! I wish I could paint like a child! " that one quote has haunted me ever since, but now I fully understand what he meant.