Artist: James Gerity
Location: Peninsula, Ohio
Title: Untitled
Dimensions: 24″ x 36″
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Website: http://www.freewebs.com/jgerityart
Comments From the Artist: This was one of the larger pieces I’ve done. It was time consuming and exciting. I am new to painting and I have certainly enjoyed and learned from your website… for that I thank you.
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Tammy on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 4:10 pm
Nice fall scene.
Valerie Sasaki on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 4:36 pm
Your colors are bright and beautiful. The scene seems serene, except for the ominus sky. I think its wonderful. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Ingrid on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 4:40 pm
Hi James,
Your use of color in this painting is very good. The contrast in the warm colors painted in the trees against that dark gray sky is quite nice. There are opportunities where you could have used a bit more of that gray within some of the shadow areas behind the trees for a bit more depth, and in the water shape. By adding a bit of this color elsewhere you connect the painting. The reflections in the water from those bright trees along the shore would be a bit brighter, wouldn’t they? The shape of the yellow tree in the front seems to split at the top into two shapes. This can be seen clearly when I squint down and look at your painting. Also within the sky shape there seems to be two pointed “V” shapes. Maybe blending these a bit more would eliminate these shapes. Maybe even adding a bit more of that nice gray into the sky would give more DRAMA against all of that warmth in the trees!
Your sense of GLOWING LIGHT on these trees is FABULOUS! You have captured that “magic” one feels when looking at the splendor of the fall foliage. This especially works because you used that neutral gray area in the sky.
The lower left corner of your painting does not seem to go with the colorful way you painted the rest of the painting. That shape is so prominent because it is a light shape against the dark shape of the water, and therefore draws our attention to it. Maybe by adding a bit more variety of color to that shape would help, and either softening the edges of that shape or having some interruptions in the contour of that shape would help. I do like that you have extended that tree shape into the upper section of your painting, connecting the two shapes.
Job well done and well worth all of the time you put into this piece. Remember that these are only my opinions and that you, the artist, have the final say in your painting!
Thank you for sharing with all of us! Keep practicing and keep painting!
Ingrid
Sana Almimar from Iraq on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 4:50 pm
Hi James are you sure that you are new at painting ! i find your painting really astonishing especially the harmony in colors , for me painting such a landscape is a dream .I wish you more success in painting God bless you
Manjula on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 4:58 pm
This is beautiful! Especially since you’re a new artist.. I am learning myself and want to make trees but don’t know how. Your trees and clouds are really good. The painting has an aura of otherworldly peace…
Jayne Cummins on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 7:30 pm
My first reaction was wow – and as I looked around the picture seeing the ominous sky and the beautifully lit trees from the last rays of the sun (I live by a river and see this sort of scene fairly often) – I couldn’t help thinking that maybe the river was too dark – wouldn’t the light be reflected on the river too – especially from the trees?
Otherwise I think you have created something really special.
Well done.
Jayne
Jaames on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 8:40 pm
Just a few comments:
A big thank you to Ralph for allowing me my 15 minutes of fame
To all who made comments and critiques. Thanks for the kind words and helpful ideas.
I first picked up a paintbrush for the first time in my life almost one year ago (Nov. 2007). Since then I have been painting almost non stop. Practice makes perfect. I hope
I have enjoyed seeing all the artists submissions on the website, and have learned from the criticisms.
Ok! and now a special message to Ingrid
I have faithfully read your comments of all the other artist, and I have to admit I thought at times you were, shall I say, a bit “nit picky”. But then I started to look closer at the submitted art as I read very closely your criticism and I have to admit that every thing you suggested would have made it a bit better. Not to mention how it taught me to “see” so much better. To get beyond the simple “oh that’s pretty” or “I like that one” way I viewed art before.
I also have to admit that I was a bit nervous of what you might say about my work. But as usual you got it right. Everything you suggested would make my painting better and that is what I am striving for. You especially noticed the lower left corner. I was so preoccupied with the beauty of the trees across the river that I failed to take in the foreground and added that later as an afterthought. You nailed it perfectly. My only defensive comment back is that I struggle getting the digital pic to equal the actual painting. In my piece the river is lighter and the reflections more visible, and overall evrything is clearer and more defined..
Thank you Ingrid for taking the time to honestly review all our work. My parting comment is that you remind me of a teacher I had many years ago who I thought was always picking on me unfairly. One day I confronted him about that and his answer shocked me. He said he thought that I had what it took to be much better than I was and as a teacher he felt obligated to push me to reach my full potential. Gosh! and I thought he just didn’t like me.
Lynn Marlowe on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 11:18 pm
The colors are vibrant. I especially like the detail in the trees .
Julie Blight on Tue, 28th Oct 2008 1:30 am
Hi James,
Well said on Ingrid’s comments, they are always so honest and constructive, and she gives credit where due, I always look forward to reading them, thank you Ingrid.
James you are progressing well with your painting and I love your fall colours. Such a varst contrast to the country I live in.
Thank you for showing and keep painting.
Soroya on Tue, 28th Oct 2008 11:03 am
Well done James,
The only area that was a bit of a distraction was the front left (as Ingrid noted). But I fully understand your wanting to add something there to add to the depth of the painting. I know that sometimes when I see fell that a painting needs something more I am a bit reluctant to add it in fear that once you put something in you can’t remove it if it doesn’t work. So I commend you for going for it.
The Trees are my favorite as they look almost feathery, dream like.
Art is such a heart felt thing to me and yours evokes a real feeling of peace. Thank you for sharing, Soroya
John on Tue, 28th Oct 2008 11:14 am
Great colors. Job well done.
Ingrid on Fri, 31st Oct 2008 5:23 pm
Hi James,
Thank you for your nice comments on my “nit pickiness”!
I can only say that I stand on the shoulders of those GREAT art instructors that have gone before me from the American Academy of Art. Irv Shapiro, AWS, a great Chicago watercolorist, who is no longer with us, would really “pick my work a part” during our weekly critiques and I would always be so nervous of what he would say! But how I learned from him! He did this to PUSH me to another level!!! Bill Parks, my life drawing instructor, really taught me to SEE……and this is so very important for an artist. He would have us sculpt an object in a paper bag, so that we could not visually see what we were doing, but had to rely on our visual memory or our mind’s eye of that object! These and other instructors have helped me develop my “artistic eye” that is continually developing as I critique my students’ work, and now the work on this wonderful educational blog. It is this layering process of growth that allows you to become a better artist as you grow older! How wonderful for us as artists!
The digital pictures do leave something to be desired and I have often wondered about that when I critique the paintings. Thank you for mentioning this to me. I am amazed by how much we can do electronically that opens the door to so many opportunities! This blog is an example of that.
One final suggestion about your painting procedure: If you could prepare a value sketch of what you want to paint BEFORE you paint, then you would have “road map” or plan of what you want to put into your painting and HOW you want to paint it. Then work all over your painting together, not just concentrating in some sections. This I have learned after many failures and it seems to help UNIFY the end results.
THANK YOU, James, for giving me the opportunity to practice my “seeing” ability!
HAPPY PAINTING!
Ingrid
carolyn Bishop on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 5:18 pm
It’s a beautiful painting, James! Thanks for sharing!