Garage Sale Treasures

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Comment by Luba Robinson on May 1, 2014 at 14:36

Thank you Mario.....your comment is much appreciated !

Comment by mario alberto velazquez on April 30, 2014 at 17:08

Just Beautiful painting !!

Comment by Luba Robinson on April 28, 2014 at 8:09

Michael, Your critique sounds spot on ! I printed out a copy and will begin working on the changes. There are some textured areas that I am going to sand down (carefully) before I start re-painting and go from there,  Thank you for taking the time to help me out on this one.........! 

Comment by Michael J. Severin on April 28, 2014 at 6:11

Hi Luba, Your excellent drawing skills are quite evident in your handling of these  forms ...especially the ovals.  Let me go over some things pertaining to your painting and still life in general.  Okay, number one:  Most often, if you are looking down on your subject matter (as you are here), the composition is set up from front to back.  If you are looking at eye level or just above eye level, the composition is set up in a more linear manner (as yours is).  2.  Cropping is good, but refrain from cropping the 2 sides equally.  3.  Okay, now comes the really important stuff ...you have chosen to illuminate your subject from the front ..that is okay, except that since all of your elements are linear, with repetitive shapes,  the overall combined shape  is flattened out because their are no contrasts or variations between the elements of your composition.  The set is "static" as their is no movement through the composition.  One of the tenets of composition is:  Use REPETITION, but without boredom.  Okay, so how do you correct this:  We cannot do anything about 1 and 2, BUT 3  ..we can. ..here is how.  Reset your still life up exactly as you have it here, then put the light source coming in from the left ...put a barrier up on the left side so that a shadow is produced on the left side.  You will then have shadows being thrown onto each pot and between them, culminating in a splash of light on the right tall pot ..(which will be your focal point).  The play of shadows across the pots will break of the sameness of each pot and provide you with movement from the shadowed left side and toward the light ..culminating at the focal point pot ..which will be the most strongly illuminated.  The shadows played across the pots will also break of the repetitive shapes into smaller more interesting abstract shapes......you will also be rewarded with LOST AND FOUND EDGES!! ..you will  see them, they will present themselves to you.  Position you light source so that you have a nice play of shadow shapes on the pots and in the top ovals ..where there would be shadow and light shapes instead of an oval hole. I hope I have explained this okay Luba? ...let me know if you have any questions or concerns.