Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Field 1 and 2

6x6 pastel on marble dust board /zing
6x6 pastel on marble dust board / neutral

One of my "ideas to think about and play with" from Richard was to paint with more neutrals and little zing, rather than my usual more zing less neutrals. So I decided to paint the same scene with the two distinctly (for me) different palettes. It's strange how I love artwork that is subtle and with a neutral palette, but my natural tendency is the zing. The top one is zing the bottom is neutral.
Which is your favorite and why?

6 comments:

Karen said...

Such a difficult question! What you said about a lot of neutral and a little zing is something I think of so, so often. I absolutely love the possibilities of how much zing the zing can have when it's surrounded by neutrals! So I guess I will (with some hesitation) vote for number 2 for that reason...I think...
The workshop sounds great, I love the way the days are set up...sounds perfect for an advanced workshop.

Bob Lafond said...

Loriann, I like both pictures, but prefer the second slightly more only because I think the variation in the compostion is more interesting. Neutrals and zings are probably lost on me. I like the approach where you don't think about it too much until the picture is finished.

Thank you for your feature on Robyn Williamson. I stumbled across her site recently, and she was kind enough to include one of my pastels at her site. I did notice that you were already there!

loriann signori said...

Thanks for your input Karen and Bob. It's funny this zing thing is hard for me. I tend to use higher chroma colors and am trying hard to use those neutrals. Hmmmmmmm.
Bob, I am glad you found Robyn's blog. I will go check out you painting now.

Dale Sherman Blodget said...

This is tough. I think the zing is what attracts me to your work in general. More often than not, you have the balance right on the money. In this post it's a very subtle difference between the two (on my screen anyway). My eye is drawn to the bright green tree in Zing, and then it falls off the paper. In Neutral, my eye settles on the foreground with great pleasure. So I can't be certain to what I'm responding, chroma or composition. Maybe try a comparison of the same comp next? Thanks for your blog. I learn a lot from your posts.

Donna T said...

I am just the opposite: I am attracted to the zing in paintings but always paint more neutral. You seem to be able to make the zing seem natural, not forced just for the effect. I have a slight preference for the second painting, if only because of a more harmonious feel, like the colors are all knit together more. (Don't fight the zing - it makes your work so special!)

loriann signori said...

Thank you for your thoughts on zing and neutral Dale and Donna. It's always good to hear input from fellow artists, since we tend to work in a vacuum.

I will take your suggestion Dale and next time do the same composition.

And thank you Donna, I won't fight the zing...only learn from my experiments.