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.
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.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your work!
Cynthia
Great job Linda. Your use of that fabric to represent the rocks was very ingenious.
ReplyDeleteLike 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.
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.
ReplyDeletethe 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