From the Artist: I love the colours of the gums in stark contrast to the darkness of the bushland in Australia. I also wanted to get the misty background and the red bark on the ground. Not sure if I've quite achieved this. My first attempt at trees.
From the Painting Guide: I think you've so lovely things going on in the bark of these trees, but don't think the mistiness is strong enough. There are two ways I'd approach it. The cautious way would be to start another painting and experiment with that; the adventurous way would be to push this one further without worrying if it doesn't all work out in the end.
For the latter, I would start by mixing up some "mist color" (a pale watery gray, mixed from the lightest bark color and the darkest blue), then take a clean brush and dampen down the whole painting, then using a broad brush paint in more mist. I would paint right over the trees, then use a damp clean cloth to lift the mist off the tree (making the canvas damp first makes this easier, but you still need to work fast with acrylics). I would eliminate most of the background and the greenery on the right. At the moment this distracts my eye from the beauty of the bark.
From the Painting Guide: I think you've so lovely things going on in the bark of these trees, but don't think the mistiness is strong enough. There are two ways I'd approach it. The cautious way would be to start another painting and experiment with that; the adventurous way would be to push this one further without worrying if it doesn't all work out in the end.
For the latter, I would start by mixing up some "mist color" (a pale watery gray, mixed from the lightest bark color and the darkest blue), then take a clean brush and dampen down the whole painting, then using a broad brush paint in more mist. I would paint right over the trees, then use a damp clean cloth to lift the mist off the tree (making the canvas damp first makes this easier, but you still need to work fast with acrylics). I would eliminate most of the background and the greenery on the right. At the moment this distracts my eye from the beauty of the bark.