Oil Landscape

This picture is an oil painting; the picture on the left is the actual picture taken and the picture on the right is the painting. While I was in Kansas, I went on a run around my grandpa's farm and came across rows of hay bales. The picture was taken in between two rows of these hay bales and is focused on several twigs sprouting from the ground. This painting was my first time using oil paints so the entire experience was new to me. It took a while to adjust to the transition from my normal acrylic paints because oil paints take forever to dry. I was constantly having to fix smudges. To begin with the painting, I took red acrylic paint, watered it down, and painted a thin wash over the background. Throughout the painting you are able to see areas where I left the red wash visible to bring attention to areas. The front left hay bale is the area where I left the most red to show through. I was happiest with the right row of hay bales because I was able to add all of the colors I wanted while still being able to add highlights with in the darks and lights. Also, while comparing the original picture and painting, I like how I added a stronger highlight on the front right hay bale. If I were to do this project again, I would lighten the sky to be more white than blue; because of the bright light blue sky, the entire painting has a cartoon effect that I did not want. My original plan was to paint the twigs in the foreground with great detail and many bright colors. Though when I added any green, blue, purple, or dark brown, the twigs were brought back into the middle ground. I ended up with simply painting the twigs with little detail and mainly white and yellow ochre. One of the things that I learned while using oil paints that differs from acrylic is to never use black until the very end of the painting; the black easily smudges and is very difficult to cover without blending. Though I enjoyed my experience with oil paints, I still prefer acrylic because of how quick the acrylics are able to dry and because I personally am able to capture greater detail with acrylic paints. The benefits of oil paint are definitely the texture and the vivid colors oil paints provide.