Paint With a New Perspective

Beach Walk
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
18 x 24 in/46 x 61 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

I spent the week painting this rather non-traditional landscape (or maybe it's really a seascape). I say non-traditional because of the perspective and viewpoint, almost overhead the beach below. 

Most landscapes are typically a straight-on view with the horizon line positioned somewhere with the sky above and the usual fore-, middle, and background view of the land.

In my painting there is no visible horizon line, and the viewer is looking down at waves, shallow lapping water, the beach, and vegetation at a steep angle. That's probably what drew me to paint this scene. Even though it's highly realistic, it's also somewhat abstract when you step back a bit.

Also, don't miss the five figures and a dog walking along the shore. They don't jump out at you because of their small size, but do provide scale, which is very important for this motif.

I understand it's good for viewers and collectors to be able to look at a painting and almost immediately recognize who the artist is by his or her style and subject matter. But it's also good  to try new things and new ways now and then.

It will certainly give you a new perspective and may just get you out of a painting rut.

A Calming August Acrylic Landscape

Summer Dusk
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
20 x 16 in/50.8 x 40.6 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2018

Well, it's August 1st.

If any month deserves a calming landscape, it's August (and possibly December also). The heat, the glaring sun, the heat, the dash from car to building, the heat, the sunscreen, the glowing perspiration, the heat, the must-go-now holiday/vacation. Did I mention the heat?

Today's image is the one I mentioned in the previous blog--the one I let rest for a while. As I suspected, I did make a couple of changes that I thought would help. The main thing I did was to tone down the setting sun so that it was less intense to match the time of day, which was dusk. I also lowered the intensity, slightly, of the orange glow around it for the same reason. I added a few darks to the immediate foreground for depth and, of course, signed it.

In paintings like this, I find acrylic to be most beautiful with the ability to blend and blur just the right places.

I hope the painting ushers in a calming August for you, too.