Holiday season?

oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches
I really don't like the background. I changed it a couple of times, they all seem make it worse. Should the background be darker? lighter? warmer? cooler? Should I get rid of the arch? any ideas?

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Comment by Xiao Li on December 12, 2015 at 19:48: Hi Charles, thank you so much for your help!!! The method using duplicate print for modification trial is quite interesting. I will try it sometime. At least it is low tech and I know I can do it. As for using Photoshop, I am still not very sure because when you use paint brush tool the only color you can choosefrom is their color panel and you have to paint by using the mouse. I wish I know how Richard did it when he simply just changes the color of a painting without alter it. Thank you very much anyway for the suggestions. Happy paintings!!

Comment by Charles Post on December 12, 2015 at 14:50: Xiao, The attached is your painting photo which I opened in Photoshop and converted to B&W by selecting Image/Adjustment/Black & White AND saved as a B&W version. Then using the color picker, I could adjust the value from white to black (upper right corner). I then selected the paint brush and adjusted the size (from 10 to 100+) and hardness (brush menu drop down options upper left above the photo) to paint in different values. This is a electronic means of creating a gray-scale notan. Once you determine your values, then you can decide on the colors using the color version of the photo and the palette option, or attack the actual painting. Again, I hope this helps.

Comment by Charles Post on December 12, 2015 at 13:59: I am far from an expert...just learning. I will give you an alternative before I relay what I have learned about Photoshop. Alternative create a photo for painting a color study: you will need acrylic paint (might work with oil but I have not tried it), fixative, acrylic glazing or other medium, piece of heavy paper or cardboard. Steps: 1-Print photo of your painting, 2-spray it with fixative and let dry so the printer ink will not run, 3-brush on layer of medium to the heavy paper or cardboard and lay the picture face up on the wet medium, then brush on thin coat of medium on the photo, 4- let everything dry overnight. Now you have a sealed photo on which you can paint until you find the right combination. Or, repeat process with another printed photo.

Now alternative using Photoshop paint brush and palette: 1-open photo, 2- select swatches (upper right corner) and pick colors, 3-select paint brush (on left) set the opacity of color and size of brush (menu bar above the photo), 4-beginning painting on the photo area. (I am not that familiar with layers, but I think you can create a layer for painting and discard if you don't like the results.) Depending on the opacity you can overlay one color on another. See the yellow area in my attached Test A for what it looks like with different size brushes and opacity. Hope those suggestions help.

Comment by Xiao Li on December 12, 2015 at 12:53: Thank you Charles for the comment. I would like to test the alternative background without having to change the painting too and have tried a couple of times. The problem is that I don't know Photoshop well enough to find how to just change the value and chroma of the painting without alter the drawing like Richard did in some of his critiques. I can mark the background and change the color of the marked area, but the whole area will be changed to the color picked from the color panel. They are so mechanical and unreal. I don't really know how to just change the value and chroma of the area marked. Are you Photoshop expert? Do you know how to do this?

Comment by Charles Post on December 11, 2015 at 7:22: If you want to test alternative backgrounds without having to change the painting, open a photo of your painting in Photoshop or a similar app and make the changes on screen until you find something you like. My personal preference goes toward darker backgrounds mixed with the subject colors (reds to balance green, etc.) going from dark to light as I think it brings out the subject of the painting more dramatically. Alternatively, you see many masters who used neutral grays mixed with the subject colors so the neutrals harmonize with the subjects. Cezanne's still lifes as examples.

Comment by Xiao Li on December 4, 2015 at 15:01: Yes Thomas, sometimes it does not take much to change a painting. Every painting we do we gain a little inside into this process and get a little better. Thank you

Comment by Thomas wezwick on December 4, 2015 at 7:24: Hi Xiao........I did see your new background,,,,WOW....Sometimes it does not take much.....You did really well on observing Kelli's Work!!!

Comment by Xiao Li on December 4, 2015 at 3:42: Thomas, thank you so much for showing me Kelli's still life paintings. They are so beautiful. I think I get the general feelings of her backgrounds. They are all kind of dark with either warm or cool tones depending on the main sense. I changed my background accordingly and I think I like this one much better (see my revised Holiday Season). Thank you so much for the link!!!

Comment by Thomas wezwick on December 3, 2015 at 4:14: Hi Xiao,,,,,I thought youu might want to look at this artists Still Lifes ,,,Her Name Kelli Folsom,,http://www.kellifolsom.com/stilllife.aspx ...........You can see you she treats her backgrounds,,,,,,,Take Care,,,,Tom

Comment by Xiao Li on December 2, 2015 at 16:00: Thank you Thomas for liking the painting. I think it is kind of dirty with that background. I was once told that there is no dirty color only color that is applied at a wrong place, so I think the dirty looking of the background is probably telling me something is wrong for some reason, but I am not sure how to fix it.