Two classes down, six more to go

I finished up my second of eight classes last night.  I hate to count them down as it appears that I am anxious for them to end. That is not the case as I will be sad when they are over.  I am enjoying the class even though I took a step backwards in my painting last night.  I took in a photo that I had taken back in December.  As you can see below, the perspective of the barn is way off.  I have effectively flattened the barn.  Before I start again,   I am going to practice sketching it to get the perspective right.

Another problem is the color.  My colors are too bold.  This is an old, faded barn and I want to reflect that in the painting.  The shadows are too bright as well.  The shadows in the photo are much deeper and I need to capture that to really get the 3D effect and lighting effects.

One other problem, and definitely not the last, is my painting shows the barn to prominently.  I am titling this "Hidden Barn" since the view of the barn is through the brush and the barn is engulfed in trees and undergrowth.  My painting does not give that same sense of seclusion.

Painting from a photo

Photo of a barn

I am going to keep working on the painting I started, but the background won't be dry for a while so I am going to make a second attempt from scratch.  I did my first wash of a canvas (a canvas board in this case) tonight that I am letting dry.  My hope is that I can lay in the background trees when I start again so that I don't have to wait.

I am not sure if you are suppose to do a wash on a canvas board; I guess I should have researched that first.  Oh well, I will find out soon enough.

Canvas board with a wash of thinned down burnt umber