The bridge is quite a complex shape so this time I decided to do an initial drawing of it, and with helpful suggestions from my wife I managed to get the gate tower in proportion with the rest of the structure. I applied paint initially with hog bristle brushes and then used mixed sable/synthetic brushes to blend and establish detail. I added a little oil painting medium to my mixtures for detail work or when the paint started to feel a bit too viscous. I'm still using short-handled brushes (a couple of which have been sawn to fit better in my pochade box) but I guess that will allow me to get used to working with them before I venture out for some much desired plein aire work - which should be very soon I hope! I will probably let this dry a little now and twiddle with some of the values and details a little later - but I'm happy enough to post it as it is now :)
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| Charles Bridge, Prague, oil on paper, 9" x 12" |
What a lovely painting. It must have been a wonderful place to visit.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to change anything, I might add some lights in the trees. Not fairy lights, mind! ;)
Thank you Pat - the trees were somewhere near the top of my tweaking list too :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful painting! I love the reflections in the water, they are great! I'm interested to see what tweaking you'll do, I hope you'll show us.
ReplyDeleteDank je Judy. All the wet in wet bit is done but it got more difficult to add highlights and lowlights as they were starting to get lost in the wet paint. It may be a while but I'll certainly post the tweaked version :)
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be completely natural with oils Michael. And there is nothing 'stiff' about your work but instead it has movement and life. Brilliant! :0)
ReplyDeleteOooh, thank you Sandra. Considering its origin, that's some comment :) I'll be putting a link up later so everyone can check out my slightly used watercolour sets on eBay, LOL !
ReplyDeleteBeautiful painting Michael. Love the reflections in the water. Great job on the structure of the bridge as well. Hope you do get out and do some plein air painting soon, it's great fun as you well know. I also like the idea about shortening the brush handles to fit in the pochade box. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAll the best to you,
Joan
Thank you for your kind comments Joan. If it's a simple landscape then all I need is a few lines to establish the composition but this was lots of arcs and lines and shadows so the drawing took almost as long as the painting! I hope to get out very soon to do some plein aire oils :)
ReplyDeleteVery very nice Michael. I'm particularly struck by the fact that you've painted the shaded side of the bridge. It makes for a more interesting composition. Love the reflections and water.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind comment, John. We walked over this bridge at least four times a day for several days but this was the first time we'd seen it properly from both sides !
ReplyDeleteBeautiful painting, Michael. The bridge is familiar to me because I was also in Prague and in other parts of Czech Republic in 2009. It's a beautiful country. I also hope to paint something from that land in the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind comments Cora. It must have been wonderful to stay in the Czech Republic for a while. We only saw Prague but I know the whole country is quite special. I look forward to seeing your paintings of it :)
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