Hives, Plein Air - redux

© Robin Edmundson, 'Beehives - Plein Air', 18 x 22 inches framed.  

Getting feedback is a powerful thing.   I was showing this piece to my plein air group and someone who was there during the actual painting of the thing mentioned that I hadn't put in the handles on the boxes [See that version in this post].   I had left them out because the piece was so busy anyway, but I thought about her comment a lot and asked the family for more opinions and the feedback was that they'd be better understood as hives if I put in the handles.

So I did.

I like this better.  Do you?


Framed, 18 x 22 inches.  $350.  Come see it in person at the show.

Editing a Painting

I have finished my first watercolor class on Craftsy.  [Yay!] The last project was to take a painting you had previously done and work on it.    I decided to work on the large boat I had painted before.

Boat 12x18.  Watercolor.  January 2016

Goal:  Identify problem areas and fix them.  Put paint in, take paint out, etc.

Execution:  I added color and detail to the background trees, the water, the orange grass behind the boat and the interior of the boat.   I darkened the shadows inside the boat and under the boat on the grass. 

Learned:  Editing was very enjoyable.  Increasing the contrast between lights/darks really makes a difference in how a painting reads.  

Although I could keep working and re-working the painting forever, I think I can stop with it here.   I like it the way it is.    [I think things can always be different, but not necessarily better.   I don't buy into the 'You can always make it better' philosophy.]

Next up:   A watercolor/pen landscape class.   Should be interesting.