Going to be Brave - Acrlyic Painting Feedback Requested

[Heather Boyd]

Hey there everyone! So I completed my acrylic aerial waterscape and I am looking for constructive critism and well any feedback that I can either add to this one or for the next one, because I really like aerial photography: colours and movement. I find it a big pain to paint on canvas because I have to fill in all the holes but I am painting over old work I didn’t like during college.

Specifically how do the colours work for this piece?
AND do you find before or as the waves hits the shore is there too much noise/ confusion /blur?

I noticed I haven't received commentary feedback as of yet and I read on another thread that I should ask more specific questions so I've edited this and trying this asking questions approach.

Thanks for the likes though.

[braden H]

@heather-boyd Nice work! With my super limited and budding colour experience I'd have to say the thing I like most about the colours in this piece is that it's all over cool with a patch of warm. Nice gradient work, too. Everything feels very rich and saturated which I rather like.

It ALMOST feels like the deep brown of the sand is competing with the deep blues of the ocean. If you've got the tools I might take a picture and fiddle with desaturating the beach, see if it changes things.

As for the noise of the ocean near the crest to me it feels noisy, but then again when I look up aerial photography of cresting waves it's super noisy, too. I think it'd be tough to simplify.

Nice work

As for lack of response I think the forum slows down a bit during December. Everyone's super busy.

[Heather Boyd]

@art-of-b

Oh yeah Christmas lols that makes sense. I must be in a Christmas fuzz too.

Thanks though for your feedback! I love rich colours too as I am sure you can see evidently in this painting. I'll have to see if I can photo edit this piece and play with desaturation while still keeping it warm, because I didn't want to white it out too lightly.

I will try to experiment more with the noise, so that I can be happier about it.

I also would tell you you are closer to colour experience in your work than me but I appreciate your humility or whatever none the less.

Merry Christmas

[Darian]

@Heather-Boyd I like the warm & cools of the painting in terms of temperature & the uneven use of the same.

The question I'd ask to myself if I had to paint this is what is the focus of this waterscape. Is it the white edges? the luminosity of the waves? the harmonious movement of the waves? etc

At the moment, the breakup of the white areas with the brown land is noisey in a few areas...maybe you could keep some of them & fill up the others

Sharing a reference of what you are going for might help us help you!

From what I have seen in general, the edges near the white areas of the water tend to be more saturated & intense than the deeper areas of the sea as light has a hard time passing through denser areas.

[DOTTYP]

@darian Hi this is a bit difficult because yo mentioned it is an aerial photo,but I think it would be nicer if the sand was lighter or more orangey and the waves a bit more foamy. I have never studied aerial photography so perhaps I am wrong.

[demotlj]

Here’s my unprofessional opinion - I like it! I love water and wave formations and the intersection between water and land, (I have a summer cottage where I spend a lot of time watching waves) and this captures that dynamic. I also love the wrap around effect on the canvas.

if you are going for realism, the colors probably are too saturated at the intersection since the water would be more transparent there letting the sand below shine through, and the sand at the top would be even lighter since it would be dry. However, as a more abstract painting of the meeting of land and water, I like the tension that the deeper colors of both provide. Each retains their own personality while dancing together and around one another as they transition.

[Jason Bowen]

I would think about the transparency of the water as it thins out on the beach. A lot of the time you can see shells and stuff in the water. Might be an idea for another one.

[Heather Boyd]

@darian

My composition stopped at making sure I wasn't cutting my painting in half vertically. I just started the Creative Composition class and a lot is new. I did study photography in college but found rearranging objects or changing camera view easier than planning everything out from head to paper even with references. I also generally like to work organically but I can see why more planning is helpful.

I used Pinterest references trying to understand the rocks/coral under the water, lighter blues closer to shore which seemed to have gotten lost a bit, a crash near the shore and sweeping onto the sand and lastly darker where the water hits the shore and less dark where the water hasn't hit (however I feared I would loose the warmth of the shore if added white and lightened it).

Thanks so much for your thoughts,

[Heather Boyd]

@dottyp

I agree with lightening up the sand near the top of the painting. I did want to steer away from really orange next to really blue.

I will definitely play around with the foam and mist, if I can create more height with it.

Thanks

[Heather Boyd]

@demotlj

Yes cottages! Unfortunately my family had to sell ours 1 summer back and it still makes me sad. But I find that's why I want to paint water because I miss it's absence in my life. We were on an island so we had to travel in our boat to reach our cottage, and I enjoyed walking down along the beach with pebbled rocks, sand and even sea weed underfoot.

I like the rich saturated colours but I would like to ensure a nicer transition for that sand lols. Thanks again

[Heather Boyd]

@jason-bowen

I had considered adding animal life in the water but I didn't want to overwhelm my first water work with too many ideas. I figured with aerial work you wouldn't necessarily see smaller details like that depending on height of course. But in an illustration with characters I would push with a more story based environment.

And I had considered water transparency, unfortunately I forgot as I worked into it and tried to add a bit in, too late up the shore. Again I would definitely find it easier working digitally and changing transparency there than even using a gloss in acrylic. I have one sitting around but the lid is glued shut lols.

Thank you as well for sharing, I really appreciate everyone's thought!

[DOTTYP]

@heather-boyd I think you are right about the orange some other people gave you much better advice that what is wonderful about this forum and lots of opinions

[Erin.Cortese]

I think you have done a great job with the colour, the water has really nice variation. If you had similar variation in the sand it may help balance it more (maybe getting lighter toward the top of the canvas where the water has not hit). The one area that does not seem to flow as well is the one you mentioned where the water meets the sand, but I’m not sure it’s because of the noise. The other areas look more natural whereas the waves on the sand have unatural lines. If you look at a photograph of water hitting the shore there is usually quite a bit of variation in the edge going from thick to thin. Also, the water’s edge is usually foamy so it would not be solid white, but would vary in saturation with the sand peeking through here and there. Great feel and movement in the piece.

[Heather Boyd]

@inkandspatter

I could have used a smaller brush to get the more details in the water hitting the shore, instead of such broad strokes. I rather liked how my #slowvemeber digital water near the shore went. I could always delete and restart if i needed to. So I need to map it out better in traditional mediums.

Thanks to you as well.