This is a painting that I did about 4 months ago to enter into a juried contest. At the time, I was getting ready to go out of town and was rushing - never a good way to get a successful painting. My original idea was to show how we focus on flowers when looking at a plant. I wanted the three flowers to be three snapshots that brought your eyes to the beauty of the flowers. My plan was to have the background very faded and the snapshots much brighter to show how we really don't usually pay attention to the other parts of the plant. (Of course we, as artists, probably do notice the whole plant.)
I thought it was a good idea but it didn't come across as I wanted for two main reasons. First, choosing yellow flowers was a mistake because yellow has such a light value intensity even at it's brightest so by also having the background light, my flowers didn't really pop. I did make the blue more intense in the snapshot area too but it wasn't enough. Secondly, there was too much background that was faded looking and the whole painting was too washed out. I've cropped out about 3 inches from the bottom because there was still too much background. It may be too bottom heavy now. I only cropped it in the photo so I can change my mind on that part.
I wasn't sure how to fix it without losing my original idea. I looked at it for months with no idea. Finally, I decided to darken the background but use muted, more drab colors to bring the attention to the snapshots. The finished painting is actually a bit brighter than this photo shows it to be. Below is the original painting before I "fixed" it. I'm still not sure it really gets my idea across as strongly as I would like but I do think the value contrasts are better in the above painting. I would love to hear your comments or ideas to make it better. I may do a series using this idea. I think that would be fun. By the way, no, the painting didn't get juried into the show. I didn't think it would and in fact I would have been embarrassed if it had. I only entered it because I plan to enter as many contests as I can as a way to push myself and didn't have any other paintings I wanted to enter.
If you like this original painting better - too bad. It's forever altered. Although if you do feel that way I would like to know.
Picture Perfect
Picture PerfectImage Size 22" x 15"
Watercolor
Unframed
$325.00
$325.00
March 2nd post script: I took a new picture of the re-done painting that shows the color better and I "uncropped" the bottom so if you are looking at this post for the first time, don't be confused. The bottom painting is cropped, the top painting isn't.
Gosh, Nancy! I love this, the idea, the original, the revamped piece. I think I like the original better as those yellows do look brighter to my eyes. There is an old-fashioned flower look to this painting, that faded misty water-colored memories thing that I just adore. I really am surprised you didn't get juried into the show. I realize what you were trying to do and I do think it is quite successful!
ReplyDeleteI definitly like the 'fix'better - much more contrast. I think with that plus the snapshot borders (neat idea!), you don't need to do anything else to bring the flowers forward. I'm thinking though, that you needn't have cropped off the bottom - I'd like to see the flowers a bit highr up in the picture plane.
ReplyDeleteTo get the Sunshine Award logo, right click on the picture and click 'save as' to save it on your computer. Then just upload it like any other pic onto your blog.
PS - hope you feel better soon! Getting sick after a trip is such lousy timing - just when you're trying to get back on track...
ReplyDeleteSorry to say it, but I like the original best. Why? Because it appears brighter and I just like the softness of the background even in it's more faded appearance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input Sherry, Deborah and Lokelani. So that's two for the old painting and one for the new one. It's really helpful to get your feedback. As I was looking at the two pictures on the blog, I can see that the original looks brighter and I was even second guessing which one I liked better but in person the new one has the bright flowers and they really show up better with the darker background. I need to take a new picture of it.
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea of the faded background and will try again with the next painting, hopefully with a more dramatic result.
Deborah, I think I will "uncrop" it so that there is more background on the bottom. Now that it's not so blah I think it can have more background. Also, thanks for my computer lesson. And thanks again for the award.
Both paintings are beautiful, Nancy. The original is my favorite...love the soft colors!
ReplyDeleteI think the 2nd version draws my eye down to the bottom of the page while the 1st version focuses me on the flower. At first I liked the revised version better because the colors were richer but then after reflecting, I changed my mind. I really like the idea and can see a series.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kammi and Ken, I have already started planning my next try at this idea using from my mistakes with this one.
ReplyDeleteThis was a wow for me. I like the changes you made in it, and I like the yellow flowers. I like the softness of the original, but I like the bolder colors of the revise - so guess I like both! Your design did work in that I did focus on the flowers first! This would make a very interesting series.
ReplyDeleteI like the original. The blue within the little 'frames' and the grey without. The yellow looks lighter, whereas the fix looks to have a darker, almost orange tone. The fix is beautiful too but I get lost in the blue.
ReplyDeleteLove your work, Nancy !
Nancie and Renee, thank you for your comments. I wish everyone could see the painting(s) in person. For some reason, this painting was really hard to get a good picture of and the original was enhanced in photoshop so that it would look like the actual painting. When I tried to do that with the revised painting, the blue was much too bright so I posted the original photo with no changes. The yellow flowers are exactly the same in both photos. I think the difference you are seeing is in the photoshop revisions of the first photo. In the actual painting, the yellow flowers are very bright as they show in the original (light background) painting.
ReplyDelete