9 x 12"
Oil on board
This is the old corn mill at New Abbey, the Dumfriesshire village I've mentioned in my earlier posts. It was built in the late 1700s on the site of a much older mill that itself was built by the monks of the nearby Sweetheart Abbey.
It's a busy little painting this one. There's lots going on and it was a challenge to keep the composition, colours and values sitting together in harmony. I think I've more or less managed to do that, although I'm still not convinced about the foliage in the foreground. Something niggles me about it but I'm not sure what. I painted it several times and probably became a little too fixated on this one area. When this happens you can start imagining problems that aren't there. That could be the case here, or perhaps there is indeed something that needs to be changed and I just need fresh eyes to see it. Either way, I like it enough to sign it off now. We'll see what verdict my 'fresh' eyes give it later on.
I love the flickering light on the wall of the mill - any secrets to painting light coming through leaves?
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa. Many thanks for your comment. I think the flickering light is my favourite bit too! I started by painting the shadow shapes of the leaves first, trying to keep in mind the direction of the canopy and leaving little gaps for the light. I then went back over the gaps of light and brightened them up. Its probably not easy to see from the photo, but the light spots have a green tint to them, with more green surrounding the lighter value in the middle, so the light is picking up some of the colour of the leaves as it comes through the tree. Hope that helps!
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