From The Rooftops
8" x 10" acrylic on 3/4" profile canvas
I finished this up yesterday. I worked on it before and after becoming ill over the New Year's holiday. As I was laying in bed bemoaning my fate, all I could think about was this painting. Not in the sense that there was an urgency to finish it but that I just kept seeing the sketch and thinking about values, etc. You know how it is when you are ill; you aren't in your right mind exactly. I like the idea of it still though. I can see a few things to fix and a few things will just have to ride as is.
As I was working on it, I was remembering something that I had read. (I can't remember whose blog it was so I am sorry I can't quote the source.) The essence of the idea though is that when something is wrong with a painting, like you think there is something wrong, it is most often the value of something. (Assuming other factors are OK.) Typically in my own work, I either don't have a good range of values or more likely, my darks and lights aren't dark enough or light enough, respectively. I have seen this recently too with some quilts I have looked at-the values are just off and then the whole thing doesn't read right. And it isn't just a matter of what is in light or what is in shadow-there is just something off. So the next time your piece of art doesn't look right, remember to check your contrasts (darks and lights) and your value range. Just a thought.
At the time, just this morning, I thought this was funny. I have an email in my inbox that I haven't answered in about two weeks. This is even a long time for me. Oh, and I guess I should work on drawing boxes. And myself.
Mondays and Tuesdays:
Don't know why I argue with myself about this but Mondays and Tuesdays are best treated as "office" and housekeeping days. Art just doesn't precisely happen for some reason. Anyone else have this sort of issue?
OK, off for my walk. I am taking my sketchbook along too so we will see how that goes.
Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you can.
Libby
Although I don't stop to comment often, I do enjoy seeing your posts. I agree with your thoughts on the darks and lights. A good tip I read long ago was to take a photo and look at it in black and white to determine if there is enough contrast. But the simplest I find is still what I learned from my drawing professor in my first art class, and that was to squint to see the darks and lights. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you are up and at it again.
ReplyDeleteI do not have a problem working on Mondays and Tuesdays. just the opposite in fact. For me I have a feeling that the weekend and all that is usually brings is over and I am ready to get back in the studio.
I agree with you that value has a lot to do with a successful piece. I have found problems with that in the past and always try to do a black and white when I am getting that feeling.
While I think that value can certainly be the difference in a successful/unsuccessful piece, my observation is that balance seems to be a more prevalent issue. And while the balance can certainly pertain to value not being distributed correctly throughout a piece, I am referring more to the compositional balance of elements in a piece. I see more issues with this than I do with value when looking at pieces that could be more successful. Many artists never give it a single thought or even know that the design principal of balance even exists. And when a person doesn't know about something, it will be hard to put a finger in identifying why something just "feels wrong" in the piece.
ReplyDeleteYour piece above is a good example of a balanced composition which happens to rely on value for the balance. Initially, it looks "heavy" on the right side because of the taller building. But because it is lighter in value than the rest of the buildings, it works.
A lot of people I know were sick on New Years this year. Even though I wasn't, I still didn't do much...just stayed in and watched some movies. I've been trying to play catch up with all the things that got put aside because of the holidays and out of town guests! Yesterday was an all day catch-up marathon. And I'm still behind on some things! Between it being cold season, just plain colder outside, and always being behind because of the holidays, I have always hated this time of year (laughing). Truly. January is like one big darn Monday!!!!
Turn it upside down or look in a mirror--chances are you'll see it right away. The value looks fine to me.
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling weller by now. So far so good for me--I often catch something at the holidays and the kids are coughing and sniffling, and my eye doctor had a hoarse voice. I figure I'll come down with something any day now...
I agree with you, Libby. Margaret Dyer, a favorite artist of mine, also emphasizes color temperature as a culprit in painting problems. She strives for both warm and cool shades of the same color within an area.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of value, you might be interested in the NOTAN approach to value. There are many articles about this on the internet. As an introductory article, this one is interesting:
http://emptyeasel.com/2008/08/19/using-notan-as-a-painting-strategy-a-step-by-step-painting-tutorial/