Château de Combourg

I did this painting last night of a châteaux in France, using photo reference from my brother, Justin Evans.

I was able to take much better photos of a few of my paintings tonight and I'm very excited about it!  Here's a comparison (it's especially apparent if you right click and open the images in a new tab/window and then click on them to make them really big):

Good lighting and focus:

Late-night light bulb lighting:

 

I signed this painting in watercolor, which was a first.  I read a good article about the importance of signing your work.  I have felt like it would presumptuous for me to sign, but the article made some good points, and I want to be good at my signature by the time I'm making paintings I want to sign!  I practiced quite a few times, but I can see I should have used a lighter color.  It feels like my signature is leading the eye away from the painting.

Things I like about this painting (I'm trying to be more positive about my end results):  I love the colors and the softness of the sky and water washes.  I like the boat, but I think if I paint this again I'm going to try to get some of the grass and clear reflections like in my brother's photo.

You'll notice that my painting is based only loosely on the photo below.  That's because I wanted to paint something styled after another one of Joseph Zbukvic's paintings.  It's one of my favorites on his site, I just love the airy lightness of it.  Here's a link:  Joseph Zbukvic Inspiration.

Good News

After my last class, my teacher said she thinks my work is ready to show and told me about an art show coming up in May in a nearby city.  She said she'd help me get something ready to submit.

I'm so excited!  And a little nervous.  =)

But now I've got some motivation to keep on painting regularly, even though I'm not in any classes right now.

Last night I painted this dog from a photo my brother's friend took in Belgium.  His name is Aaron Beddes and he's got some amazing work on his site HERE.

I see some problems, but as a whole I really like it.  I had an artist at work critique it for me and he gave me some good composition advice.  It's nice working with artists sometimes.  :)