Frayssinet Village painting- final edits?
13 01 2009I started this painting some time ago and it’s taken me longer than I’d like to bring it to a satisfactory end. I generally dislike having long periods of stops and starts between painting sessions because I end up “oiling out” the painting and I run the danger of losing that freshness that comes with alla prima painting. But we’re in the final stages of finishing the new studio so I just have to deal with the back and forth for a little while longer. (BTW, “oiling out” is when you wipe on a thin layer of diluted medium to help a partially dry oil surface better adhere to subsequent layers.)
This is a 24 x 30″ painting of the village of Frayssinet, my “home base” for my plein air painting trip last summer. Photography issues continue, so at least on my monitor the color is a little dark and contrasty and the sky is too yellow and has lost the gradations of pale blue.
Photography issues aside, the photos do give me a chance to again take a “step back” (something I mentioned before I can’t manage to do in my temporary painting space.) With a new perspective, I am considering changing the figure. Right now the proportion makes her a little lost in the painting.
One option is to make her bigger. A quick edit in Photoshop makes this happen. (If only it was that quick and easy in actuality!)
The other option is to take the figure out altogether:
Of course, the second edit above would be the simplest option and it’s not a bad solution. I’m leaning towards changing the figure, however, as she does add a bit more interest and focal point. Yeah or nay? No edits? Or edit #1 or #2?
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I’m leaning towards option #2 and omitting the figure. I love how this brings the irises more into the focal point of the painting.
If you just added a little pig to walk with him, then it would be a strong visual clue that this is a painting in France somewhere!
Heather, you’re making it easy on me
And Rick- good call on the pig. Why didn’t I think of that?!
Ok so one nay and one pig (or would that be one neigh and one oink?) Anyone else?
To me, there seem to be too many areas that agressively draw my eye (the yellow flower group being the most prominent and they overwhelm the figure), so I have to ask what is the intended focal point of the painting.
The wide path and the lighter colors tend to draw in too many different directions so that there isn’t a flow through the painting to the focal point.
Perhaps it would be helpful if you printed a gray scale of the painting and penciled the various directions the eye is drawn. And then decide where you want to draw the eye to the focal point.
Beautiful painting! The colors are gorgeous and I find the composition very strong. My first thought was that the figure was out of scale and too small but I really like the figure and think it should stay. I can even see it a little larger than the choice #2. If you could simplify the bush behind the figure (take out the lighter strokes right around the person) and put a strong light effect on the figure that would definitely make the person the main focal point and a natural one. All the compositional elements draw my eye to that spot that you have placed the figure and if you add that element of contrast too, I think you’d have an A++ success. It’s so close…. That’s just me…
Thanks Holly,
I understand what you’re saying…maybe there’s too much emphasis on too many things. I do have a black and white feature on my camera though, which I find myself constantly using use for a quick check of my values (especially given the working conditions in my temporary space.) To my mind, my eye went right to the spot where the figure was. But you’ve gotten me thinking that if I keep or enlarge the figure, maybe an addtional solution is to tone down the irises by either reducing scale or contrast there.
Marilyn, thanks for the generous critique. Your comments reflect some of the things I was thinking in terms of possibly scaling up the figure even a little more and adding more contrast to her. I hadn’t thought of glazing down the bush in the distance though and I will keep that in mind.