In this painting, Susan used all the principles she learned in Workshop P. She created this for the Summary Painting:
“Winter Wonder is based on photos from our hike in Shevlin Park in the winter of 2016. It is a simple composition based on contrast of size and value to emphasize the feeling of awe and wonder felt when walking among these giants. I used rabatment of the rectangle for placement of the focal area – my husband and our dog.
I used a secondary triadic color harmony of orange, green and violet. I painted using a variety of brushwork and analogous optical color mixing. I painted white snow with a range of very light value complementary hues. I believe I achieved luminosity in the sky and in the snow and atmospheric perspective to give depth to the scene.
I am exhilarated by all that I have learned through this course. It is freeing to have concepts and principles to help me express what I feel in nature. With all the interruptions in my life, it took me 6 years to finish. It has been so worth it. Many aspects of painting are coming together. It is like a language that I am finally able to speak in paragraphs – not just words. What a wonderful journey. Now I will go back to the beginning and go through the course again.”
Susan
“Congratulations Susan! you have created a very magical painting for your Workshop P summary painting project, with a very effective use of luminosity in the light entering the woodlands.
One of the things I have heard many times is that when you paint, you need to have a love of your subject. Your love of nature certainly comes out in your work. It is this love of your subject I think that creates the poetry in a painting.
I look forward to continuing the exploration of painting with you as you continue to go into different areas of painting in more depth. Congratulations once more!
Barry”