From the Artist: When I started to paint the view of the lake of Annecy I was a bit skeptical. I had known that the described palette of colors is sufficient, but somehow I missed the warm in it (normally I would use another combination of limited colors and replace lemon yellow by
cadmium yellow, burnt sienna by burnt umber, and more substantially use vermilion red instead of phthalo blue). However, as the painting was progressing I noticed that this particular choice of colors, made the picture to develop some unexpected but somehow magic ambiance.
From the Painting Guide: Cadmium yellow and burnt umber are the standard yellow and brown I use on my palette. I far prefer the warmth cadmium yellow has (and gives when mixed) and find lemon yellow too blue or cold a yellow. So the glorious moody colors in your painting really made me stop and think I'll have to reassess my attitude to burnt sienna in particular!
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
A Sense of Mood: Painting sunsets and sunrises that convey a strong sense of mood without feeling overdone or exaggerated is tricky. The colors need to be underplayed so not to be garish, yet be full of subtle changes to feel realistic.
I think this painting does it magnificently through the colors used in the hills and bright sky, through the feeling of reflected light and shadow in the water. Through the inclusion (and position) of the jetty and boats, as well as the merest suggestion of shoreline with trees etc.
There is one thing that I can't quite get my head around: the dark reflection a third of the way from the left, coming from the back shoreline almost right to the front. I can't figure out how this, with the band of light on the left of it, would happen, unless it's a building with lights reflecting in the water. I'd be tempted to leave it out of the scene.
From the Painting Guide: Cadmium yellow and burnt umber are the standard yellow and brown I use on my palette. I far prefer the warmth cadmium yellow has (and gives when mixed) and find lemon yellow too blue or cold a yellow. So the glorious moody colors in your painting really made me stop and think I'll have to reassess my attitude to burnt sienna in particular!
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
A Sense of Mood: Painting sunsets and sunrises that convey a strong sense of mood without feeling overdone or exaggerated is tricky. The colors need to be underplayed so not to be garish, yet be full of subtle changes to feel realistic.
I think this painting does it magnificently through the colors used in the hills and bright sky, through the feeling of reflected light and shadow in the water. Through the inclusion (and position) of the jetty and boats, as well as the merest suggestion of shoreline with trees etc.
There is one thing that I can't quite get my head around: the dark reflection a third of the way from the left, coming from the back shoreline almost right to the front. I can't figure out how this, with the band of light on the left of it, would happen, unless it's a building with lights reflecting in the water. I'd be tempted to leave it out of the scene.