# first time



## santy2040 (Jan 22, 2013)

Hello everyone

i have been painting for 3 months now never had any art instruction before and ive been searching for a place where i can get some help and critique. in the 3 months i have made quite a few pieces to which i will attach a sample below some i have redone after a self review others have just been one off's. please give me your honest opinion as i want to grow in this field that at first was a hobby and has grown into a passion. please see attachments note: where there are two that are similar the first one is the earlier painting


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## George924 (Oct 8, 2012)

Hi Santy, great to have you at the forums...I can see a lot of Bob Ross in the landscapes and that is not a bad thing, Ross's method has taught many of artists, me being one of them. Here is a site that you may find of help and after you learn The Carder Method putting your own artistic flare to it just enhances the work even more. http://www.drawmixpaint.com/

The portrait has a lot of proportional stuff that is wrong with it but as it being only three months into it that is to be expected...you need to learn about values and lights and darks and the benefits of making a piece stand out. the values of the portrait are basically in the same range and it stands to be a dull piece, unlike your two similar landscapes...

there you push the values rather nicely and it gives the two a very interesting story to the viewer. Most people would give you a hard time about the highlights on the trees in the second piece because it contradicts the light source but that is one thing I like quite a bit about the piece. 

The third piece is just a nice little piece with no real gotcha now I'm going to hold you captive mood while you explore the piece. Pretty much a pretty little picture...not saying that it is bad but it is a typical scenery that could hang in somebody's house and take up wall space. 

The fourth piece...Now your on to something. Ther is a lot of thought and movement into this piece letting the viewer loose their selves in the piece and explore for a while. 

My suggestion other than checking out http://www.drawmixpaint.com/... would be study composition and color design...look at art that you are simply amazed with and ask yourself why is this art more appealing rather than other art. What is it, the lines, the color, composition, technique...once you start finding your artist that lies inside you and excepting the fact you are an artist you will begin to see the world in a whole new way. 

It does not matter where I am, I am always looking at life as art, trying to understand color and shapes, composition and design...I am always thinking of how life emulates art. 

There will always be more never less from me...We as artists have to grow and advance, no matter how stubborn we may be to see things differently. Look forward to seeing your growth as the artist you are becoming.


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## santy2040 (Jan 22, 2013)

hello

thanks for the feedback i totally agree for some time now (especially after ive started hanging these in front of my couch in the living room) ive noticed that they were for the most part bland and something was missing. its one of the reasons i reached out like this. ive noticed that one of my big problems is that i tend to do things in what i now understand to be "ala prima"/ all in one sitting mostly because there is no prior planning or if i do leave it and come back i end up making major changes that ruin the piece. 

question: i leaned on the bob ross wet on wet technique and in the past when i did step away lets say for a week to plan out an object or a section the paint has dried and im forced to use paint thinner as a way of being able to spread the paint easily. is there something im missing or should i forget the wet on wet for anything i know im going to spend a lot of time on?


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