Color to Life

My work reflects the same color palette as the original.  I incorporated similar shades of colors to their corresponding place on the painting in trying to resemble the original as close as possible.  I changed up the mark making slightly in my version of the painting because I used shorter brush strokes and included more variation of color within those strokes.  The original painting had longer brush strokes of all the same color, but I was interested in playing with the depth of each color and section/layer of my painting.  In terms of style, I tried to keep it as similar as possible to the original painting by using simplistic shapes to portray the landscape.  In this project, I learned that painting is a long, tedious process that involves a lot of painting over and redoing.  I ended up painting over so many shapes and colors trying to find that perfect balance that I was looking for.  I think my overall canvas is pretty unified because I applied similar brush strokes to every section of the painting except for the clouds: I used a different strategy to paint them but I like the way they contrast against the rest of the painting.  I think I spent an equal amount of time trying to perfect each section of my painting to give it a uniform, flowing look.  I feel a lot more comfortable as a painter after this project than I did before.  I feel a lot more comfortable working with paint and the various brushes, and I like the way they let you express the same picture in a myriad of ways.  I want to explore painting more by painting different things rather than landscapes and just getting more experience with it under my belt.  I think the more I use the medium, the easier it will become to express what you want.  A limitation that paint has for me is the detail, especially concerning small lines.  For example, it is difficult for me to not blend color and keep different colored sections to themselves: a lot of my paint ends up getting mixed together on the lines.  I want to work on keeping those areas tidy and be able to express small details using paint and a brush.

Original: by Ernest Ludwig Kirchner