Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Resolve






















I seem to have so much difficulty with photo placement in this program. After several attempts, this is the closest I can come to what I was looking for. That being said, I want to talk a bit about how I resolved some of the issues I had with this painting.
I was relatively happy with the sense of depth in the one on the left, which was the unresolved painting, but decided to push it further. I darkened the foreground, especially on the lower right, which I think helped establish the steep incline of the hill. I also lightened the shadows on the small rocks toward the top of the path where they meet the rock pile. I then decided to add some highlights on the rock pile to bring out the shapes and forms. While it looks like I darkened the shadow sides, I actually lightened the shadows making the rock faces look darker. It is all about simultaneous contrast. One last area I resolved was the light value on the ground in front of the rock pile. I realized the area was in light shadow, so darkened it a bit. I am much happier with the painting now, even if the focal area is smack dab in the middle. It works for me.
On a totally different subject, my husband had finally started a blog. He does some amazing work in pastels and photography. Take a look here to see what is going on with Tom.
I also want to suggest you take a look at this painting by Casey Klahn. It is bold, intense, and very exciting.
Another artist I have come to appreciate more and more is Mary Buek. Check out her paintings and collages here.
Finally, you can follow all of Margaret Ryall's posts on art critiques at this site.






3 comments:

M said...

I like the changes you made to the work Miki. They created more depth and interest. It's amazing what a few bits of colour will do.

Thanks for the blog mention and I'm so sorry my response to this work got lost because I didn't press post.

One of the things I mentioned on my lost post, was the vertical orientation, which I think this view definitely needs. Have you ever considered an even more non-standard vertical format, e.g., 10 x24, 12 x30 ? How would this change the path, and the relationship between the outcropping and the mountain? I love vertical formats and a friend asked me to consider a vertical composition in several other vertical proportions. I was amazed with what I found out and what a difference subtle size changes can make. I pass the challenge along to you.

Miki Willa said...

Thank you for your comments. My husband really likes to work in the vertical orientation. I don't do it too often, but usually like the outcome when I do. I like your suggestion of trying the non-standard sizes. I will look for compositions I can try.

Casey Klahn said...

Thanks for the mention.

I like your description of the resolve, Miki.

I tried to leave a comment for Tom at his wonderful new blog. The word verification takes too long or doesn't load for me. Old computer, I guess!