Riverside Drive East Fremantle Hi

Riverside Drive East Fremantle

Hi Jeremy
Oil Painting 9"x12" canvas covered MDF board. Completed to this stage in 2 hrs, on the cold and windy beach opposite old Oyster Beds Resturant. I think now called the Red Herring

I have uploaded a number of other paintings in progress or being reworked. to my Blog Gallery.
http://bobsgallery.blogspot.com/

The above is the most recent

Hi Bob

This is one of those Klimt-like paintings with pattern rising up the board. I have done many paintings in the same style. I like the brush strokes and the pattern of colours, with the yellow streak zig zagging leading you into the work.

My immediate impression is that it could do with more tonal contrast to make it livelier (it could just be the photograph). Perhaps make the lovely dark patches even darker and lighten up some of the lights.

Maybe it could do with a focal point. I often put boats in the foreground of these river scenes often a sailing boat with white sails. It’s a bit trite but it always lifts the work.

I think the background is the weakest part of the painting where the beautiful greens and oranges or the rest of the painting become uninteresting browns. You have reduced the tonal contrasts in the background which works to make it recede and cut out most of the greens, which is fine.

I am not sure how to improve the background but myself I would probably introduce some white and some blue marks reflecting the sky and make some of those browns a bit more orange.

The background at the top right is working better so part of the problem may be lack of definition in the background, especially in the middle and centre left. Its getting a bit lost.

Jeremy