Class 5: Red Rocks

Tonight the teacher had us paint a scene that included red rocks.  My reference was crazy over-complicated.  Instead of just sky and red rocks (which I should have done), I did a painting with sky, red rocks, trees, shrubs, and water.

I really hated my painting at the end of class.  I decided to work on it for a while longer after I got home and see if I could salvage it.  I'm still not proud of it, but it's much improved.  Too bad I didn't take a photo so we could compare.

One of the big problems are there are just too many brush strokes, especially in the bushes, so it makes it really busy.  Does cropping help?

I think it does help a little bit, but this painting definitely suffers from overworking.  Some of the rock textures aren't bad though, and rocks are very challenging for me, so that's progress.

HERE is the link to the amazing artist's painting I used as a reference for this class.

Stay tuned for next week, in which I'll attempt to paint a bird.