Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Revision

Unattended2 Revised-9x12


First Unattended2

Did a little revising on this painting from a few weeks ago. i keep completed paintings around in front of me to see if they need anything. i kept looking at this one and it just wasnt doing anything for me so i made a few changes. there weren't enough temperature shifts for my liking so i made these changes:
*darkened and cooled the dark shadows on the house and made the sunny side less orange (a little redder and darker)
*darkened the larger roof
*lightened the smaller roofs
* a spot of darkness under the far right window
*got rid of the far right tree so it doesnt compete with the house
*cooled off the foreground grass and simplified it, making the house pop out more
*darkened the tree trunk so it doesnt fight with the left side of the house
* gave more definition to the tree, making it more subtle and painterly. added sky holes too
the combination of dropping some values and cooling some shapes down made a big difference and makes the house more important, and now its the star of the show. the painting has more pop!

5 comments:

Carol L. Adamec said...

Thanks. Mike, for the analysis and revision. It was very helpful to me, as I often have paintings that
don't look "right" and I'm not sure how to think about changing them.

Karsten said...

Ditto Carol's remarks - very helpful, Mike!

Margo said...

Wow, it made a huge difference. I appreciate the effort and sharing, it helps me to look at my efforts anew.

DGehman said...

Hard to describe my reaction - I don't think I've seen so many tweaks (and reasons for tweaks) given out freely - amazing...

If you ever do a workshop specifically for intermediate / advanced folks, this would make a great last-day detailed demo involving an attendee willing to put a "something's not quite right" canvas under your brush.

mike rooney studios said...

carol and karsten- glad the demo was helpful. always wished someone would show how they fixed something. you just gotta know that everything they do didnt roll off the brush just right the first time everytime.

margo- youre very welcome

dave- ive done that very thing. i'll take students work (who agree to be my guinea pig) and make corrections on the painting in front of everybody. the class always says its very helpful!
you'd make a good teacher because youre always looking for ways to improve the experience for the students.