# The Cabin - WIP



## TerryCurley

Worked on the Cabin this morning. (_the painting not my house_) Plan to develop it slowly...it is definitely at the ugly stage right now. I need to let what I have done dry. Since I'm using Walnut Alkyd medium it will be dry by tomorrow. 

I decided to do a tropical sunset for a friend of mine in the mean time...going to do a separate WIP on that one. 

I'm feeling much better today than I have since I got home from vacation so I think it will be a productive day.


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## Bushcraftonfire

So glad to hear you're feeling better Sis! The sketch out looks great.. Something about the position of the reflection that bothers me a bit.. but looks like it's gonna be terrific!

D


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## chanda95

I really really like where this is going Terry!


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## TerryCurley

Hmmm...David I'm wondering what the problem is with the reflection. If you can put a figure on it let me know. It will be awhile before I get to painting that part and maybe I can correct it. Do you think maybe the reflection is too large? I was thinking that only the top of the cabin would be visible as a reflection since the cabin is set back. Do you think maybe the angel is wrong? I'm having trouble seeing a problem, but then I always have problems seeing my problems until it's too late to fix.


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## chanda95

The issue I see with the reflection is that is not the whole cabin. google house reflections on a lake to see what I mean. If you do that image search you will see that almost every time the whole building (and ground below it) will be reflected..not just a portion of it. It should be a mirror image..your reflected image has cut off part of the bottom of your building therefore it doesn't look quite right in that regard..


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## Bushcraftonfire

What I see is that the reflection is off-centered to the left.. It looks like I should be looking from a different angle maybe? If you try moving it to the right it should help. Typically a reflection will be exactly vertical to what you are viewing in my experience. If you took a ruler and made a few vertical strokes from some key points (the roof peak, the column. etc) I think you will see what I mean.

I might tend to agree with Chanda on not being the whole reflection . I think looking from the angle we are on the lake will see the whole thing. This wouldn't always be the case if you were just looking at the edge of the lake. The vertical lines will aid you greatly sis.

D

PS - I forgot your question about the angle.. Usually.. the same distance you are set back.. (looking with the horizon line near the base of the house) it will be that distance up the house that you will see. I hope that makes sense.. I think your distance is ok.. might be JUST a wee bit lower on the house.. but it's pretty accurate..enough that I wouldn't mess with it except for the fact that it needs to be moved right anyway.. LOL


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## TerryCurley

Thanks Chanda and David. 

Here was my thinking on this...I was going to make the full house a reflection and then I thought that if you were up close as this picture is you would not see the full house reflected only the top of the house. If the vantage point was back further definitely but not up close. That's what my mind was telling me. It isn't like the house is right at the shore line. Looking at the google I can see this is not the case. But I'm still not sure I have found the same situation.

As for the left shift I did exactly as you said David when I drew the reflection and made it right under the house. My ruler shows that it is lined up correctly but the tape on the house makes the house look smaller than the house really is. I think once the tape is off it will line up properly....but I need to redo it anyway to make the reflection the full house.

I have to tell you I'm getting discouraged right now. I feel like I'm very much out of my league here.


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## TerryCurley

Here is an example of what I was thinking. -- see below note first.


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## TerryCurley

I went ahead and erased the reflection as best I could. I’ll draw the next reflection in with graphite so I don’t confuse the two when painting because the lines did not completely erase on the canvas. Maybe I'll Gesso it instead...I don't know yet. 
However…..I’m not at all sure that the full reflection is the way to go now. I did a little experiment. I took a mirror (representing the water) and a box representing the house, and I set the house a few inches back from the mirror…and when I stood close to the mirror all I could see is the upper part of the box (ie roof). Standing back I could see the whole reflection but the picture is up close not from afar. So now I think my mind was actually telling me right as far as the reflection goes. Now I’m regretting erasing it and not sure what to do about it…..I think I’ll sleep on it and then decide.


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## Bushcraftonfire

Terry...

I see the ruler.. but it still looks left to me. Maybe it's the angle of the photo. 

As for the "full reflection" I think you misunderstood. I wasn't talking about height.. rather width. I think the height on your reflection is pretty spot on from the angle I am looking at the framing.

Can't wait to see it worked up a bit more 

D


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## TerryCurley

Bushcraftonfire said:


> Terry...
> 
> I see the ruler.. but it still looks left to me. Maybe it's the angle of the photo.
> 
> As for the "full reflection" I think you misunderstood. I wasn't talking about height.. rather width. I think the height on your reflection is pretty spot on from the angle I am looking at the framing.
> 
> Can't wait to see it worked up a bit more
> 
> D


 Hi Daivd,

When I was referring to the "full reflection" I was commenting on Chanda's statement "_The issue I see with the reflection is that is not the whole cabin."
_
I have decided I will gesso over the reflection that is there and let it dry and attempt it again. But I want to get in my mind exactly the way I want it before I redraw it. So if I understand you correctly you think the top half of the reflection is appropriate and it just needs to be shifted a little to the right? and not quite as wide? 

Thanks for your help Bro.


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## chanda95

TerryCurley said:


> Hi Daivd,
> 
> When I was referring to the "full reflection" I was commenting on Chanda's statement "_The issue I see with the reflection is that is not the whole cabin."
> _
> I have decided I will gesso over the reflection that is there and let it dry and attempt it again. But I want to get in my mind exactly the way I want it before I redraw it. So if I understand you correctly you think the top half of the reflection is appropriate and it just needs to be shifted a little to the right? and not quite as wide?
> 
> Thanks for your help Bro.


Ultimately it is your painting and you should do what you want with it Terry. All we give you are ideas and suggestions of what we see but we aren't doing the painting and don't have your vision. Take what you want from what we say and keep what you want. It's ok to ignore us and do what you want. It's not our piece of art. 

Honestly I am a really "by the book" artist... The houses on the right that don't look like they have a full reflection do indeed have them...but they are muddled by that far patch of water. If you examine it closely you will see that they are reflecting in full..they are just blurry reflections.

I want to stress..that doesn't mean YOU have to make it that way. It is what I would do..take what I say with a grain of salt and don't let it discourage you. Make this picture your own and don't be the least bit afraid to do so.


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## Bushcraftonfire

chanda95 said:


> It's ok to ignore us and do what you want.


*No it's Not!!* ROTFLOL!

Seriously.. You are a great artist and I echo what Chanda said.. You are doing fine.. I know that you said you haven't done a lot of landscape.. so you are looking for thoughts.. and I respect that. To me, it looks like you are catching on wonderfully.. Go with it and see how it works for you.. It will be fine Sis.

I don't deal in Oils.. only watercolor.. which for the most part is a bit more impressionistic than oil I think. IE: my reflections would only be suggestions.. Maybe I can do a mock up to show you at some time in the near future... But that's how watercolor works.. the colors flowing into each other. With oil.. it is probably a bit different because you can control how your paints juxtapose with each other.

All in all.. It's YOUR painting.. and I'm excited to see what you do with it 

D


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## TerryCurley

OK I took this picture from the ugly stage to the horribly ugly stage. 

But I'm liking how it's coming out and it should start to get a little nicer from here on.


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## Susan Mulno

TerryCurley said:


> OK I took this picture from the ugly stage to the horribly ugly stage.


Is this your way of saying, "It's gonna get worse before it gets better?"


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## TerryCurley

Hi Susan, 

What I was implying is that picture was looking bad before the last post and now the picture looks even worse, but that from now on the picture should start looking better. Underpainting is generally not too pretty.


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## TerryCurley

Did a little on The Cabin this morning. Have to let it dry now before I can go forward. I know a lot of oil painters do wet on wet but I tend to get into trouble when I do that.


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## Bushcraftonfire

Looking better and better all the time Terry! 

D


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## Susan Mulno

Very nice!


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## TerryCurley

Thank you Daivd and Susan. It has a long long way to go yet, but I'm beginning to feel better about it now.


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## chanda95

Very very nice!


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## TerryCurley

chanda95 said:


> Very very nice!


 You are much too kind...it will be much better soon. At least I hope so.


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## TerryCurley

I need to take a break for a bit, but I want to post how it's coming along.


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## Bushcraftonfire

WOW.. this took some turn overnight (Maybe little elves came in while you were sleeping? LOL). Anyway.. it's Woooooonderful! Can't wait to see more Terry!

D


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## Susan Mulno

Really looks great! Loving the trees. 

Kind of surreal seeing a picture so detailed in some areas as so undone in other areas.


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## TerryCurley

Yes it does look surreal doesn't it. 

I just got back from the Physical Therapist and would love to start painting right now, but can't because I have to get supper ready and then go to a soft ball game.....boy am I going to be happy when the soft ball season is over. Enough already!


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## TerryCurley

The soft ball game got rained out last night. At this rate those girls are going to be playing until Christmas. Anyway it did give me a chance to work a bit on my Cabin picture. Here is where I am. I smudged it pretty good while adding a few touches, but I'm not worried those will all get painted over.


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## Susan Mulno

Lookin' good!


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## Bushcraftonfire

Very nice Sis


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## chanda95

Terry! This is really good! Waiting not so patiently for updates.


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## TerryCurley

Thank you Chanda. I worked a little on it yesterday but I did a bunch of smears that I need to fix so I don't think I'm going to post another picture until they are fixed. 

My honest opinion on this picture so far is I like the way the cabin is developing and I like the way the boy came out, though he looks a little cartoonish, for me I think he's as good as I can do. 

I feel like I over worked the tree line, I would have liked it to be more airy and not such a thick almost blob, same with the bushes in front of the cabin.

I bought a new (very expensive by my standard) Wilson Bickford signature scenery brush and either I don't know how to control it yet or the brush is not what it's cracked up to be. 

I hate the way the grass has come out and vow to fix that but it will probably be the last thing.


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## Bushcraftonfire

I love watching videos on new brushes.. but I have learned a lesson.. they are selling brushes!!!!

It's not the brush that enables you to do things.. it's knowing *how to use* the brush! So.. after buying probably in the vicinity of 100+ brushes.. I have figured some things out. AND.. I have also figured out that once I learned the technique.. I can do the same thing with a variety of brushes! *(Correction... I actually counted my brushes since i posted this.. I have over 150 brushes.. LOL! OVERKILL!)*

And for the record.. I have found the exact same (Or at least close enough) brushes in other places for a fraction of the cost. For example (although I could be wrong because I haven't used this brush you got) The Scenery Brush is a hog bristle angled brush. I can buy one that looks identical (and is for painting a house with oil paint) for ~$2 at Walmart. Problem with a lot of art brushes is that they sometimes take something off the market.. learn how to use it for painting.. and then dress it up and charge 10 X's the price because it's now an "artbrush"! Maybe some of them work better than the alternative.. maybe not 

Keep working at it.. you will get used to the brush.. I think you're doing great!

D


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## TerryCurley

I have done better foliage with cheaper brushes. I don't think I'm going to send away for anymore brushes, the ones I'm getting at Hobby Lobby are doing good.

I use a lot of the fine brushes and have found that in practically no time at all they become flared out and lose that point that is needed for fine work. Have you had that problem David? Do you know of a way to avoid it. I was thinking it was perhaps how I was cleaning them, but I'm being very conscious to take care and it still happens. Maybe it's the norm for fine brushes to wear out after a few months of use. The larger brushes last forever...well at least for as long as I have been using them.

Generally I pay around 3 or 4 dollars for a brush but sometimes get a set which works out a little cheaper. This scenery brush was $14.59, won't do that again.


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## Bushcraftonfire

Yes.. I watched the promo on that brush.. and saw the price.. that's how I knew it was Identical to the one at Walmart (that sells for ~$2.00)

Oil and Watercolor are two different puppies.. My brushes for the most part are treated VERY gently. The only exception I can think of is my scrubber (used to take out paint). But that's an OIL brush to begin with.. LOL! 

When I am finished using them. I wash them in warm water and reshape them.. then lay them down to dry. Perhaps the thinners and solutions used in oils will tend to cause the brush to wear a bit faster. I would think it would at least. One of the reasons I like watercolors! (I also use *ONLY *non toxic paints)

One thing I have done is experiment with different local things found around the house in my drawings. It's amazing what you can find to do what you want. I have shaved old brushes to the shape I want them.. I use palette knives (yes in watercolor.. they make wonderful Birch trees)...I have used pointed sticks.. I have used bunched up and cut off rubber bands in an old marker sheath (makes wonderful shrubbery)... I have used oil brushes for scrubbers (need to use them gently .. but they work great).. I have used string.. Bunched up hair from a hairbrush.. the hairbrush itself, old makeup brushes of various shapes and sizes, sponges, toothbrushes, feathers, the edge of a quarter, paper, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, cloth, and various other things. Unbelievable what textures you can get from things "not meant to paint with".

I'm sure I have forgotten a few things.. but experiment.. you will find some wonderful surprises awaiting you.. at no cost!

D


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## TerryCurley

My favorite is que-tip swabs. I use them all the time. I also have used tooth picks for eye lashes and pallete knives for rocks. That's about the extend so far of my non-brush applicators, but I'm definitely open to experimenting.

Here's the current status of The Cabin. I still have a really long way to go on this painting. I want to add a couple of pines, fix up the bushes around the pond, add hanging plants on the house and some vines climbing the poles, finish the big tree on the right, do the dog, finish the reflections and then add a wash over it to make it look like water, and redo all the grass -- oh and a reflection of the tree in the upper window of the house, then add some birds and squirrels and I still haven't decided on the carp or not.

The reason I want to add a carp is because we have a very large pond at our place and in 1992 I put a couple of gold fish in it to help clean up some of the algae and my son put in cat fish for fishing. Any way they thrived and I saw one of the gold fish in it just about a month ago and I swear that thing is 3 feet long. 

I'm a little afraid of what you are all going to say about the house reflection. I don't have any picture to go by this is a made up in my head picture.


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## Susan Mulno

I think it is coming out fantasticly! Unless there is a pine tree next to the one we can see, I would not put the reflection in the window, the cabin is not facing that pine from what I can see.


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## Bushcraftonfire

That is fantastic Sis! I like it very much. Many times when I do water reflections.. I drag my brush very lightly side to side over the reflected object.. making it look like movement in the water.. I see you have done that to an extent up and down. 

On a side note.. I forget.. is this oil or acrylic? The colors are so wonderful

D


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## TerryCurley

Thanks David. It's oil. I really think oil colors are more brilliant than acrylic. 

Thanks Susan, I'm thinking a reflection of a tree will be OK for that window it looks so nothing right now. It doesn't necessarily have to be the tree you see in the picture, it can be a tree that is out of the picture. Makes it more interesting. The big tree on the right I started as being a pine and then for some reason I added branches that don't really look like pine branches so I've decided to make it a generic hardwood tree. It's not finished yet I have a bunch of work to do on it.


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## TerryCurley

Taking a break but I wanted to show you where I am on my picture. 

What I see is left to do is put in the reflections of the bushes around the pond and the vines and pots that I've added to the house. Work on the shoreline of the pond, finish the grass, and put in the birds and squirrels and the carp. I also have to finish the dog, he just has an undercoat on him. 

If you see something I've overlooked please speak up. The photos







I'm taking are not good, hopefully I'll get a better one once it's finished.


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## Bushcraftonfire

It's really starting to shape up nicely Sis! Great job 

D


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## Susan Mulno

This is great!


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## TerryCurley

*Finshed?????*

I think I'm finished. So often though I think I am then I see something to change. 

This photo has a lot of glare from the flash of the camera. Tomorrow I'll take a picture outside and hopefully won't get that glare. 

Please feel free to give helpful criticism. If it weren't for the critique earlier in the game the picture would have been ruined with the reflection of the house in the wrong place and not the complete house, so I do appreciate it. It's kind of late to change much on this picture but honestly I do keep everything in mind and try my best to incorporate the suggestions in the next picture.

One thing I want to say is I may put some blue wash over the carp/coy but I can't until they are dry. I'm not sure if I should, I kind of like seeing them clearly...what do you think?


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## Bushcraftonfire

This is great Terry! My favorite ? The Woodpecker !!

D


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## TerryCurley

Thanks David. 

If it were your picture would put a blue wash over the fish? I'm having trouble deciding.


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## chanda95

What a lovely painting! I am proud of you for following through with this. I know you had some discouraging moments but you pulled it through. Personally I would do a wash over the carp. Right now they look a little bit like they are sitting on top of the water..I would run some of your ripples over them as well to give the effect of them being under water. 

GREAT JOB TERRY!!


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## TerryCurley

Thanks Chanda, yeah I think you are right about the wash over the fish. Sometimes I have to sleep on a decision to get it clear in my mind. 

I'm going to try to get a better photo today if the sun comes out. It looks like rain again. I think my husband needs to start building a big ark just incase.


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## TerryCurley

*Better photo*

I was able to get a better photo of the final version of The Cabin.


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## chanda95

I love it! It has a really bright and cheery feel. So vibrant and happy! I want to be there. You did such a good job with this. I like the fish better too.


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## TerryCurley

Thank you Chanda.


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## Bushcraftonfire

Yes Terry.. Unless you are naming the carp "Jesus" I would put the wash over them.. The 2nd looks much better IMO... I might even obscure them just a tad more.. but it looks nice the way it is now!

Sometimes I just give myself a kick.. LOL!

D


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## TerryCurley

Well maybe not Jesus...but you know what happens when a gold fish dies...it floats to the top. LOL


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## Toriya

This is the finished version of the picture? It's Your fantasy? Very hard to take composition. There is no defining of the object, which bears all the attention. Too many attracting features. And there should be one dominant. The composition looked holistically.


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## TerryCurley

I agree with you completely Toriya. You said it well. My words are ...it's too busy. The more I look at it the less I like it. But I think I learned some from doing this picture so it was time well spent........and it was fun.


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## chanda95

Terry, your painting is a little busy yes..however it also tells a story and so many of those busy elements need to be included in order to tell it. In all honesty for me the dominant features are the boy, the dog and the mom and dad in the window. 

Seeing where you came from to the work you do today, I think you have learned a lot and grown a great deal artistically. If you learned something from this painting then it was a success. Artwork does not have to be perfect and it does not have to conform to somebody elses ideals. Art is what you make of it and we each have our own styles and way of doing things and none of it is wrong. It's ART! All we do is share ideas and express opinions but the artist has the final say..I think you did a great job. 

That is my opinion.


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## TerryCurley

Thank you Chanda you are very encouraging. Honestly though I'm not crazy about this picture. But yes it was a success because I learned from it and had fun doing it, but I think this composition is a case where less would have been better.


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## Lana24

Just wonderful


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