Monday, September 08, 2008

Clam Cove II

I have wanted to create another piece based on this photo I took while vacationing in New England. Is it too much of a stretch to call this a water garden on a grander scale? Anyway, I've decided to use this photo again. I originally used it as the inspiration photo for the 2004 Grab Bag Challenge.

My initial attempt with this piece was rather lifeless with no focal point. I think I remedied that by adding some very dark fabrics in the foreground and near the horizon.
I have been reminded again how important contrast is to the success of a piece. I seem to be learning this lesson over and over again.

Update September 24, 2008:

I decided to act on the suggestion to add some dark to the water area. I’m not sure about how this affected the balance, but I think it has added some dimension to the middle section and unified it more with the rest of the piece.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Linda! Love the sunlit trees and the water and the shore. Adding the foreground was a great idea, adds depth and pulls the viewer in. The dark values work really well, but....when I squint my eyes I see 2 dark areas, a horizontal strip and a diagonal curved strip and it doesn't look balanced. Did you consider adding a little darkness to the rocks in the surf? That might give more balance as well as add more interest to the middle of the piece.

    I always enjoy your work!
    Cynthia

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  2. Great job Linda. Your use of that fabric to represent the rocks was very ingenious.
    Like Cynthia I too find the dark values by the rocks and the land a bit out of balance, just my humble opinion.
    Overall it is a great abstract.

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  3. I think the piece has a better feel to it than the composition of the photo. I like the way the darker colours in the foreground make it look like a rocky section of the coastline.I like the way the changes to the piece help to lead your eye into the horizon. the rocks in the centre section with a middle value do well with keeping that section in the middle distance.

    the only thing I might do is to give a bit of irregularity to the darker fabric strip near the back. I don't think it needs to be dark as well, a bit of something with a lighter value would work.

    perhaps to acheive this, you could add something which would represent the section of uprightposts/rocks or whatever they are at the left along that part of the photo.

    I liked the first peice and I do really like this better. It does remind me of times on the coast in Maine!
    well done,
    Sandy in the UK

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