I’m taking a pastel sunset class at the Digital Art Academy. It was started by Karen Bonaker, who has an incredible knowledge of Painter. Not only that, but she makes the most wonderful brushes for each class.
I totally don’t know what I’m doing drawing these landscapes. I’ve never really done landscapes before. I’m an abstract artist. Before that, I did textiles. Last month I took a landscape class at the DAA given by Aaron Rutten, who is an incredible teacher. Aaron, has 180 videos on You Tube. Most of them about Painter.
So, it was with trepidation that I entered the pastel sunset class.
This is my first attempt at a sunset. I posted it in class, and got positive comments. So I thought, what the heck, I’ll post it on my Twitter account. OMG, it got a bunch of retweets and favorites. I think more than any of my other paintings.
But, I have to say that this pastel bugged me a bit. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
That is where my good friend, Eva Macie came in. Eva is a wonderful artist. She supported herself and her children with her art. Truly an artists dream to be self-supporting with their art. Eva paints digitally as well as with acrylics and just about anything else. She is a multi-faceted and multi-media artist. Check out her blog here. She just posted a pastel of an orange that is fabulous.
You can also see Eva’s art at Fine Art America. Eva has exquisite taste in art and is always seeking to learn more about digital art. Check her out at You Tube to see the great videos she watches. I wish she’d start doing her own videos.
Eva told me she liked my first pastel. But she too had a problem with it. She took my pastel and turned the trees into bushes. She pointed out that the trees I had placed were all the same size (how could I have done that?) and that they acted as a curtain. Yes, that was it, that’s what was bugging me about this piece. So, here is Eva’s redo of my picture.
I feel very lucky to have an artist like Eva to give me advice. I like Eva because she calls it as she sees it. She could have told me how wonderful this piece was. But instead, I learned a very valuable lesson from her.
Beautiful painting! I’m downloading Corel Painter free trial because I would like to have a try at it. Thank you for commenting about it.:)
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I’m so glad you like the painting. Thanks. Good luck with Painter. It has a pretty steep learning curve. But once you get it, then it goes smoothly. I have taken a lot of classes at the Digital Art Academy, which has helped me a lot. I blogged about it here. https://kerrycmitchell.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=721&action=edit
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Love the colors in this piece. So tranquil looking! You should get your art posted to Fine Art America.
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Thanks for your compliments. It means a lot.
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Beautiful – the harmony you created in this piece is fantastic. Love the depth of the scene. My favorite!
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Love this piece Kerry!
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Thanks, Sharon. It’s one of my first.
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Both are gorgeous! I do like the open feeling of the 2nd one though.
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Thanks, Trisha. I rather like the second one, too.
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I love both! I am not one little bit an artist. I like both as your first one really captured my memories of many sunsets in the Rocky Mountains, and the trees appeared to be, to me, mostly the same size in arid areas when looking at a distance. But I can see Eva’s point. The second is more realistic. Very beautiful!
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Thanks for the input, Leigh. Each has its merits.
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The sky is amazing. The colors flow into one another so well and this is a great first attempt. I wished my first attempts were this good.
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Thank you so much. I’m trying to do a second one, and it’s a disaster.
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I like the Maxfield Parrish-esque colors (and the trees).
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Thanks, Daniel. This was a fun one to do.
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Kerry, thank you for your kind and generous shout-out. First let me say I think your painting is wonderful. Trees or not, the clouds and sky are amazing. I am sure you will find that my opinion is not in keeping with what everyone thinks it was just my opinion based on years of schooling.You said your instructor loved the trees so there you go. Keep up the good work and I promise not to give you anymore critiques. 😉
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I love your help, Eva. You were dead on. The thing was bothering me, and I didn’t know why. Please don’t give up on me. I’m honored that you feel comfortable to give me honest input.
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amazing
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Thank you so much. I barely had it up before you replied.
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