Sunday, February 04, 2007

Brenda's Still Life




I decided to redo a still life I did for my September journal of some pots up above my foyer. I tried to add shading to the pots with Neocolor II pastels (worked better on some than others), and then by thread painting. The yellow wall is shaded with a layer of gold tulle. I admit I misunderstood the guidelines about cropping on three sides (a case of jumping in before carefully studying the rules:), so I really only cropped the right side slightly. I'm also not totally thrilled with the way I have the fabric coming out of the pot, but I'm not sure I want to rip out the stitching and try to fix it either. This was a great challenge! Now that I've seen what everyone has done with the cropping technique, I plan to try this again.

3 comments:

Linda Cline said...

The shading with your pastels worked in a beautiful subtle way. You could have added some soft highlights to the other side in a similar manner.

Looking up at the pots is an interesting perspective.

You have created your pots in very subdued colors and then surrounded them with vibrantly backgrounds, borders, and the added fabric. What if you used neuterals to surround the pots? What if you left out the fabric coming out of the pot entirely? The subtle beauty of the pots might stand out more.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Brenda, There are some great fabrics in this piece which gives it alot of texture and variety. The different heights and shapes of the vases are great, too.

2 things to consider:
What would it look cropped more? I played with it in photoshop and cropped the left 1/3 off and the top 10% off...and I really like it! Try it different ways in your photo editing program...it's very enlightening!
How would it look with some more defined shadows on the pots? It could add more drama to the piece.

I particularly like the viewpoint looking up at the pots...that's unique.

Good job!
Cynthia

laura west kong said...

I like the composition and the way it looks like you're peeking in to a little alcove or window. Your shading is done nicely too. I would consider how the fabric would cast shadows if you are going to leave it. It is an interesting element and I wonder how it would look if you could tuck it under or cut it off at the dark left border as if the wall was in front of the composition.