Sunday, February 20, 2011

Did you ever say, wrong, wrong, wrong?


Did you ever look at a painting and all you can say to yourself is: wrong, wrong, wrong?
Well this one haunted me. It did not feel like twilight (see yesterday's post.) Twilight has lots of light, those last moments of sun from below the horizon, but is also has reduced chroma. The chroma is usually reduced by its complement.  So I changed that.
The painting yesterday also had no feel. You could not feel the last sad moments of twilight, the bittersweet exit of one day and hope for a new beginning. Hopefully I changed that too.
Thanks everyone for your kind comments yesterday.

11 comments:

Casey Klahn said...

It is hard to tell unless one clicks on the image and looks at the bigger, isolated image. Then, the land-form colors fill out.

One thing I have been enjoying has been your fun, three-part post titles.

loriann signori said...

Hi Casey,
I made the image a little bigger now. Maybe that will help. Funny, for me they look so different, maybe it's an emotional component as well.
I tried to calm the area above the twilight orange with smudging and neutralizing. Only one some part of the sky really glows at twilight and that is near the horizon. The rest has grayed.
I keep trying to train my memory and combine it with knowledge of how skies work. For so many years I worked predominantly from plein air or in studio with my plein air paintings as reference. Now I hang off a limb as I try to figure out what to do to make the feeling I want. I am not complaining at all...it's a great limb with wonderful views.

Anonymous said...

Love your painting format.

Annie v.

loriann signori said...

Hi Annie, The 2 to 1 vertical painting format is dramatic. Glad you like it too.

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

This looks more like your words, and more subtle, too. It's hard to tell from the photo, but you might have a duplicate shape in the upper yellow/pink cloud and up in the top with a lighter blued gray shape. At least on my monitor, they look like the same shape, same size, same thing.

You work hard even when you're not fully up to power, Loriann. You are an inspiration. As always!

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Funny, I say that too about my work. I shut it in a drawer and don't look at it at all or tape it to the wall so I can see it without looking at it for a few days, then I sneak up on it and take a peek. Often the offending article is so shocked it blurts out it's wrongdoing and can quickly be corrected.

Caroline Simmill said...

I really like the perspective in this one Loriann. I seem to be travelling down the canal right to the heart of the twilight setting sun, all is very mysterious. I have the box of pastels out and I am looking at them!!

Donna T said...

Interesting thoughts, Loriann. Your comment about the sad moments of twilight made me look at the revised painting differently. It's as if the impending darkness has to be dominant over those last rays of sunshine; they have to show that influence and give up some of their intense color. I guess in that line of thinking a sunrise would be opposite with the bright colors gradually dominating the dark sky. Bright colors on top of dark ones would sure change the mood of the piece.

loriann signori said...

Hi Kvan, thanks, you are right, this does finally match the words.I realized that there were 2 divas the top and the bottom and that will never work for the opera. Fights ensue. i will go look at the piece in the studio to check about the shape repetition.

loriann signori said...

Hi Lisa, you make me laugh...i do the same thing! You really do have to sneak up on them.

Hi Caroline,
How absolutely exciting- a box of pastels- what kind? Careful they can be addictive. One tiny tip, use a light touch, like a whisper so that you can layer many many times...it can be just like glazing... you can smoosh the colors together lay them on top of each other or place them side by side. Have fun!
As for the format and perspective, I have been looking at Japanese woodcuts ever since I saw the show in San Diego. Most were done in this elongated format. The woodcuts had a moving kind of perspective that traveled you through the picture plane. hmmm

loriann signori said...

Hi Donna, you get it every time... don't you?When I am back on the road again let's go plein air paint together again.