Magnificent Storm
24 x 24"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2011
© Nicki Ault, 2011
sold
I am astounded! Ha! Well, that might be a smidge dramatic, but look at these two photos. The photo below is the one I posted yesterday, but I didn't feel it was showing the range of colours in the sky. And then after I read my friend Don's comment from yesterday's post I wondered if I wasn't doing justice with the picture I posted. Don mentioned an initial concern about the green water and I realized the sky wasn't showing the range of colours, although subtle, that helped tie the water in. I took the above photo today just to see if I could get a better result. Wow! Today's photo is much better and way more accurate. Both photos were taken this week on days that were overcast, so why the huge variation? Well, my best guess is that the time of day made the difference. The below photo (much more blue overall) was taken around 10:00 in the morning. Today's picture was taken at about 1:30 in the afternoon.
These days in Saskatchewan it is still dark at 8:30 a.m. and it begins to get dark again around 5:00 p.m. We are approaching the shortest day of the year for sunlight hours and so all of this makes sense. The early afternoon is about as bright as the day gets and is probably the "warmest" light of the day; right now almost all other times of the day have a cooler light. Humph! I love learnin'! And Don, thanks for making me think!
7 comments:
Wow! You're right, this is a much better photo. I didn't realize what I was missing last night - and I really liked it then. Now I absolutely LOVE it! Interestingly enough, I almost didn't say anything about the green. I just thought you were working with a bluer, more saturate palette.
I wonder, when you took your photos were you in the same location? And, did you have the same color background behind the painting? An auto-focus camera has a tendency to white balance off the brightest thing in the frame. That's why I usually shoot my paintings against a white piece of foam board, so the auto-focus will white balance to it. It's not a perfect fix, and I'll admit that some of my photos are very off. But, I also must admit that every one of the photos of my paintings gets adjusted in Photoshop prior to posting them.
-Don
Hi Don,
I'm glad you said something about the green because it made me look at the picture again.
When I took the pictures they were in exactly the same location... outside on my white fence. The only thing that was different was the time of day, so that is a real eye opener.
I don't have a good photo editing program right now... I think that needs to go on the wish list for the New Year. And I should learn more about photography...
Thanks for your input!
N.
What a magnificient painting Nicki, it is simply amazing. I love everything about it, especially the proportions of the sky compared to the water, a perfect composition.
Have a wonderful week!
(I'm the one who have deleted the other comment, two many mispellings, sorry!)
...mispellings... I mean misspellings! (sounds like a joke now...) I will take the opportunity to comment on your last work: the new version of the sky is perfect Nicky, the painting is very moody with its stormy atmosphere, which translates in a highly expressive way both sides of what you call "your cycle of creation". Beautiful piece.
Thank you so much Pierre. Your words mean a great deal to me... as you know I am one of your biggest admirers.
Peace to you in this holiday season and always,
Nicki
And hello again, Pierre. I appreciate your thoughts on the painting posted Dec. 17. I am still at war with it in my head... I am having second thoughts about it. And so it goes...
:o)
Nicki
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