Yesterday was the annual Fort Madison Area Arts Association garden tour. I like the access to private gardens but the trade off is lots of visitors. I do like that it is often friends I haven't seen in a while. I don't know if the distractions were the reason I was unhappy with this painting or my usual odds of failed paintings. I am used to constructive criticism but one of the visitors stood over my shoulder and dictated which lily did not look right, not why it failed, just that I needed to fix it. So I painted on, Granted I was not happy with the painting anyway, Her "help" was like people who complain about politics but don't have any solutions. I got home and wiped the painting off, the end.
I did take this photo so that later I can critique it without stress. I think maybe it could use more lost edges and one of the lilies needs to be the center of attention. Anyone who wants to post their opinion is welcome, just remember "What would you do to fix this?"
Botany is my weak side. Looks pretty good to me. What if the dark reddish tones framed the closer lily at right and the turquoise tones framed the other two? It might put more weight and contrast on the close one?
ReplyDeleteThanks, that makes sense. It seems obvious now. The best skill one should have is the ability to figure out problems like that on the fly when plein air painting.
DeleteMy first thought was it all seems to be in the middle value range so John's suggestion to add darker tones around the petals would help. Headphones would also help ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes, values. Headphones for the other problem. Thanks.
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