From the Artist: My wife and I were going to East Texas to visit family when we passed
a golf course in the middle of nowhere. It gave me the idea for this scene. It is painted from memory and does not depict the place we saw. There were no cows there, I added them for fun.
From the Painting Guide: Golf enthusiasts can be found in the most unexpected of places -- I've even encountered grass-less courses in semi-desert areas, consisting of little more than raked sand with the larger stones and pebbles cleared off. Adding cows where there were none or might never be any is, of course, artist's license. I think they add a lovely element of fun or humor, though the scale of them compared to the trees would mean the latter would have to be redwoods or something equally tall... Of course that matters only if you want it to be a totally realistic landscape rather than an imagined one ("magic realism").
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Focal Point: Even in a landscape, where there is potentially a lot of different elements, needs a focal point in the composition. It's where the viewer's eye gets pulled towards, inexorably. But a focal point also needs to be balanced so it doesn't demand the viewer's attention to such an extent their eye never wanders around the rest of the composition.
Consider how the golf pole and flag pull your eye in, while the shadow at its base encourages your eye out into the rest of the composition. Seeing the flag shapes your interpretation of the rest of the landscape, telling you there's a golf course not just a grassy landscape.
Color of Sky/Water: In this painting the sky and stream are identical blues, and while it's not totally unfeasible I find I want them to be a little different, to give each more of an individual identity. The amount of cloud in the sky impacts not only on the color (blueness) of the sky, but also the color of water. The angle you're looking at the water also influences its color. Next time you're in a similar landscape, spend some time comparing the color of the water to the sky, and looking at how elements in the landscape influence its color (through reflection, shadows, and so on).
From the Painting Guide: Golf enthusiasts can be found in the most unexpected of places -- I've even encountered grass-less courses in semi-desert areas, consisting of little more than raked sand with the larger stones and pebbles cleared off. Adding cows where there were none or might never be any is, of course, artist's license. I think they add a lovely element of fun or humor, though the scale of them compared to the trees would mean the latter would have to be redwoods or something equally tall... Of course that matters only if you want it to be a totally realistic landscape rather than an imagined one ("magic realism").
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Focal Point: Even in a landscape, where there is potentially a lot of different elements, needs a focal point in the composition. It's where the viewer's eye gets pulled towards, inexorably. But a focal point also needs to be balanced so it doesn't demand the viewer's attention to such an extent their eye never wanders around the rest of the composition.
Consider how the golf pole and flag pull your eye in, while the shadow at its base encourages your eye out into the rest of the composition. Seeing the flag shapes your interpretation of the rest of the landscape, telling you there's a golf course not just a grassy landscape.
Color of Sky/Water: In this painting the sky and stream are identical blues, and while it's not totally unfeasible I find I want them to be a little different, to give each more of an individual identity. The amount of cloud in the sky impacts not only on the color (blueness) of the sky, but also the color of water. The angle you're looking at the water also influences its color. Next time you're in a similar landscape, spend some time comparing the color of the water to the sky, and looking at how elements in the landscape influence its color (through reflection, shadows, and so on).