Crocus

Watercolor on 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper. This was an assignment in my watercolor class. Sorry about the skewed view that shows a bit of the matte/shadow on the bottom right corner.

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Comment by Devora Baht Y'shua on August 19, 2012 at 16:42: EXCELLENT!!!

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on April 29, 2012 at 5:24: Delores, I remember your post on this site on the "Wanna be an artist" topic. Keep up what you are doing, and try some new things every once in awile. We all have self doubts now and again. Just think "Gonna be!" I have photoshop elements v. 7, which is just fine, but gimp is at least $75 less (discounted price for PS elements) and works just as well. Stu

Comment by Delores Rhodes on April 29, 2012 at 5:09: Oh and Stu, I've never heard of gimp. I'll have a look. Thank you!

Delores

Comment by Delores Rhodes on April 29, 2012 at 5:08: Hi Stu,

Thank you for your comments. I love the detailed comments that give me something to work with. Your are always specific.

In the purple I've added some orange of the stamens and in the greens I added some of the purple to keep things harmonious. I did put a purple glaze over the bottom orange, but I should have done a second one as it still jumps out. I also darkened some of the paler petals to keep them from jumping out. I was afraid they would all be the same value if I wasn't careful.

It seems you and I see the same problems, I just didn't go far enough to fix them. I won't be able to do any more with this one, as I gave it to my daughter for a charity auction. I haven't heard back from her yet. I'm hoping it went well.

Thanks again,

Delores

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on April 29, 2012 at 2:22: Delores, get gimp from www.gimp.com; it is free and has most of the same tools. The only thing I would suggest to perhaps make this a little better would be to harmonize your colors a little more. The red stamens could be toned down a little, especially the lower left because it pulls your eye away from the upper one and takes you out of the painting. I am a very mediocre watercolorist, so I would play around with it in gimp after I downloaded it before putting on any paint. Graying down that lower left red orange color could be done with a wash of its opposite color (blue green) to make it a little more subtle by being grayer and darker. You could also wash over the very light petal under it a little. Try staring right at the upper red stamen and see what grabs your eye and competes for attention; it is that lower left corner of the painting. I don't know if this will help you, but I do like your work in these two watercolors. Keep up your watercolors. Hope you will join us again for the competitions. Stu

Comment by Delores Rhodes on April 28, 2012 at 12:27: Ah, Photoshop...if only I had the extra cash to buy it. There always seems to be something else more important to buy. Someday...

Thank you for the kind comments. They are always welcome. Does anyone have any suggestions to make it better? I've painted this one twice and probably won't do it again, but would love any comments that I can apply to the next painting...whatever that might be.

Thanks everyone,

D