by Jack
This is my version of a WWII British Hurricane fighter flying over the white cliff’s of Dover. There’s been a number of similar paintings because the Hurricane’s popularity as a historic WWII fighter and the picturesque cliffs, but this one is all mine.
Question: Should I keep the rainbow effect in the upper left? This particular painting is large, 24 X 34 and a lot of detail is lost in the digital camera and the size reduction to fit it on this page. It is acrylic on canvas and because of the complex colors on the plane it took longer than most painting. In fact, it’s still not done, but I had to stop for awhile and ask your advise, i.e., the rainbow cloud effect, keep or no? I could also add 2 more planes in the background, yes or no? Thanks everyone, appreciate your comments.
PS Ya know, I still can’t get a local gallery to talk to me. Not one place will hang my stuff and they haven’t even seen it. The answer I always get is I’m a nobody and they only hang established works that have hung in other galleries before or so I am told. Well, some day I hope these snooty types regret that they gave me the bums rush. Oh well, I enjoy doing them, but it would be nice to have an actual art show sometime and see what the public thinks about them.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Hmmm…I can’t make out the rainbow effect on my computer…no help for you there.
I like the idea of three planes, especially if the painting is supposed to reflect wartime. (are those war ships in the ocean?)
Or is this a pleasure flight or an air show scenario? The bright blue sky and bright colors give the painting a warm happy feel (the frame adds to this) suggesting peace time.
Do you know of any groups that hold wine tasting events? You might suggest an art show would enhance the event. I submitted a few paintings years ago at such an event and sold one of them. We moved out of the area and I took up the guitar.
Tina, maybe you missed your calling! Ever think about taking up the brush again? I’m not surprised to hear that you are a multi-talented person. : )
The painting was supposed to be wartime, so may be I will ad a couple more planes. I have to tell you, the Hawker Hurrican is not easy to do because of the shading and camo colors. That being said, it is one of the most painted of all airplanes, probably right up there with the P51 Mustang, which seems to be everyone’s favorite plane…at least in the aviation world.
I’m thinking about it, Jack. Not ready to dive in just yet.
I can appreciate the difficulty and I’m a bit in awe of your abilities.
If it’s war time the mood of the painting might be more important than the extra planes, if that helps.
You seem to be enjoying yourself immensely, that’s what really matters. You’ve earned it!
Wow, that’s great, Jack.
Could you post a full resolution photo of it? I know it wouldn’t fit on this page but you could upload the photo file (a jpg, png, or whatever format you want) to one of those free file hosting or free photo/picture hosting sites and then post a link to it here.
PS Ya know, I still can’t get a local gallery to talk to me. Not one place will hang my stuff and they haven’t even seen it. The answer I always get is I’m a nobody and they only hang established works that have hung in other galleries before or so I am told.
It’s not you or your work. It’s just really hard to get into galleries if you aren’t established even if you’re really good. You need to spend about as much time or maybe even more time marketing your work as you do creating it. Unfortunately, especially if you don’t like marketing, that’s just the way it is.
If you want to make money painting you could try painting portraits of people who have money and are willing to pay. Or maybe landscapes of some rich person’s property. You could always try putting your paintings up on eBay and see what happens or even craigslist which is free. If I were you I would try galleries outside this area, especially the smaller ones.
Good ideas Joe. I think I will try Craigslist and eBay and see what happens. I am clueless what I should ask for them, any thoughts?
Sorry, Jack. When it comes to pricing paintings I am clueless. The only person I ever new who tried to sell paintings was the woman I mentioned earlier and I did not know how much she was trying to sell her work for. I didn’t know her very well and she died before I had a chance to learn more about her and her work.
I would ask someone who has sold one and that would appear to be Miss Tina.
Paintings of local points of interest also can be marketed…heritage sites in particular.
What Joe said. I would abandon any and all efforts to convince the “art world” that you are an “artist”. Look for venues where us “common folk” congregate and you will find those to whom your art speaks. Our son did a pencil rendition of this album cover—
https://www.amazon.com/Mescalito-Ryan-Bingham/dp/B000VDDCHE
—and arranged to have prints for sale here—
https://chiefrecordsonline.com/
—which generated some modest sales. Have you tried ‘Made in Chico’ or some local restaurants with some empty wall space (and good food!).
As to your painting, here goes. I admit that I am a stickler for technical detail.
I would lose the rainbow and stick with clouds. The elevator perspective does not quite match the wings. I would make the propeller flash symmetrical to show a three-bladed prop. As it is, it suggests a four blade prop with one blade missing.
You could have just one plane. More than one Brit pilot disappeared on a “check flight”. Taking their freshly repaired fighter up for a check flight, they would sneak out over the coast in hopes of a chance encounter with the Luftwaffe.
The Germans knew this. Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland used this to his advantage to train new pilots. He would fly near the English coast and lure a Brit fighter into “chasing” him back to France. His new pilot would be positioned high up at mid-channel, and come swooping down on the target fixated Brit pilot. You could sub-title the piece “Beware the Hun in the sun”.
There was a common variant of the Hurricane that carried four Browning .30 caliber MG’s in each wing. A German pilot remarked after the war that when the Hurricanes open fire, it was like someone pouring water out of a perforated watering can. There were so many bullets, they were bound to hit something.
RHT, you are spot on. Because the painting was not finished I used photoshop to finish a couple of details for the blog, like the gun ports. But, I just finished painting in the 3 bladed prop and I am using 4 machine guns per wing and a landing light. I also improved some ocean features. It’s looking great! New version to be posted. It’s better than I ever expected. You sure have an eye for details and I appreciate that, you were absolutely right.
LOL, Jack, competition headed your way, “Artificially intelligent painters invent new styles of art”
Oh I don’t think I like this IA stuff at all. Yes, it could be competitive, but one of the reasons we have art is because we are human and we like to see what humans create. Humans’ create AI, AI creates art, but AI can’t appreciate what it creates and I’m not sure we should either. I hope this doesn’t catch on, then again this is kinda along the lines of what people said about photography, so maybe AI-ART will find its own place…who knows.
Agree completely, Jack, on all points.
Update – This painting is currently hanging in the Chico Air Museum.