One of my student asked me …
”Sir, I am not getting this painting properly, something went wrong. I am not able to understand what it is? ”
She has painted a landscape. In that landscape sky is the predominant area. The colors and tones which she used for the sky is not created the effects of sky. Instead of that, it appears like a painted cloth.
I told her…” when you are painting sky you didn’t experience the visual feeling of it. Just you painted it with out thinking. Before you paint the sky area, you would have thought many questions about it. For example…. You have to understand the nature of the sky. It’s not a wall or a curtain you are going to paint, it’s the sky which appears to us in diffused greys with luminous effect. It is the source of light. The landscape is receiving that light. The foreground, middle ground trees, distance mountains whatever are there, they are receiving that light. It’s all interrelated. When you are painting sky you should experience it as a part of the whole. To understand this whole, an art student has to learn Composition.”