The next step after you have critiqued your paintings (excerpt from Elizabeth Mowry workshop, see Saturday's post for the first part)
Then the choices are:
*Is it possible to make alterations on the painting without overworking?
*Knowing that by making changes, the painting will be overworked, but you are will to sacrifice it in order to learn.
*You decide not to alter the current painting but will keep in mind how you would prefer to do a similar subject in the future.
Okay. So you have made a painting that looks exactly like what you were looking at......
Now ask, but could it be better? Could it say more? How?
FORMAT-Is this the best one for this kind of subject?
SPACING- Could I vary or improve the spacing between components?
DETAILS- Are there distracting areas that compromise the main idea?
HORIZON LINE PLACEMENT- Better higher or lower? Did I give the most important idea the space it needs?
COLOR- Am I really happy with the color palette?
Are the colors dull or boring? Or garishly causing tension?
MAIN IDEA- Is the idea clear or are there several ideas competing?
LINE- Is there an elegance and grace of line within the painting?
EDGES - Should some of the edges be softened? (or more defined?)
CENTER OF INTEREST- The center of interest reads stronger when the contrast, purest color and important details are in that area.
Are some of the areas of the painting obviously overworked?
Is the technique generally consistent throughout the painting?
4 comments:
Very interesting to read about the self critique Loriann, certainly lots of food for thought. It is for me very difficult to be able to see my own work at a distance both emotionally and physically. But the lists you have given recently I will try and see if I can see more!
You are right Caroline, it is very hard. On the other hand it is something I find I need to learn to do better. Who else really knows what I/you want to say? Time can help the emotional distance.
What a great approach to critique. It's dispassionate and thorough. I can see how valuable it is to be able to critique your own work and be the first judge of it, rather than letting others decide if it's working or not.
You are exactly right when you say that time helps you feel less protective and more able to be objective about a painting. When I got back from my trip, I was able to look at old work with fresh eyes. It's disturbing to see how many I want to wash off and begin again. But good, too.
Thanks for sharinv the E. Mowry tips!
Well put Katherine, dispassionate and thorough. Glad to see you immediately used your fresh eyes!
PS I wash off/ throw away far more than I keep. Richard McKinley calls them gremlins.
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