Thursday, August 22, 2019

What title to give this one?

Lots of ideas, but finding it hard to finish anything. Funny, I've looked through all my photos of Amsterdam, but I'm not really tempted to paint from any of them. I should have looked through Deb's photos - she takes photos with a strong composition in mind and they make perfect starting points for painting projects. I copied a few of her photos from the Beara Peninsula, and she captured the light beautifully, so I will definitely use some of these to paint.

This one I'm working on is a good example. Deb took a photo of the farm shed beside our AirBnB, and what attracted her was the beautiful shadow play on the the white wall, which I hadn't even noticed.

Rather than plunging right in, I'm trying to decide on a composition and colour scheme. Colours are easy, I think. But what I really need to do is decide on a title first, which will help me with what to highlight and what to subdue. This is a good idea Deb told me about - it might have been something an instructor said at a workshop, but I really can't remember! Basically, by giving your piece a title before you start painting, you will remember what the focus should be, rather than try to paint everything everything.
My problem is that I can't decide what title to give it! What should it be?

  • Shadow on the barn
  • Lavender sky
  • Country road
  • Distant mountains
  • Dark tree against white barn
What I should really do is paint all of these versions, as an exercise in choosing a focus. But paint the same scene 5 times is hard! Unless, maybe, I try to apply different techniques for each of them. e.g.:

  • Shadow on the barn - giving a sense of calm by using a few colours 
  • Lavender sky - increasing the drama by using strong colours
  • Country road - a sense of peace by limiting the value contrast, or increasing the distance by increasing the value contrast
  • Distant mountains - a sense of space using shape contrast (more intricate shapes closer to me, simpler shapes in the distance)
  • Dark tree against white barn - strong value contrast to bring the attention to that spot - darkest dark against lightest light.
I'd better clear my calendar, so.





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