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Debra Jones · 01-30-2006, 02:07 PM

Thanks all, and one friend in private, for your input.

I think that tangential hillside is probably what I couldn't put my finger on. IT does require a bit of Sitar music and a quiet meditation for me to analyse a photo and step back to NOT put something in. Cindy that commentary on the quantity of content is the issue I feel stretched about.

Alexandria, the attention of the gaze has been going around in my head. I find it does create impact to have the viewer confronted by a single subject. As a standard in portriature, that nice "howdy" sort of feeling brings the person into the moment, but this relationship between the two subjects is something to be considered. Another friend felt the horse was upstaging the piece. That is good! I want this to have more impact on the potential animal art, my people are pretty strong and this reference is indeed about the horse, with the human secondary. Perhaps my problem is that I have not established that enough. It may be that very balance that is NOT right. Upstaging is about stealing the limelight, not demanding it. I can see ways that I could have done much more to pull the attention to one or the other subject.

But about that paint. It is deceptive, but it has very few thin areas, I just loaded it up - with white, so it feels thin. The permalba addiction and I began on white canvas (.... another sure fire bad move on my part.) The chest of the horse and the skirt are the thinnest areas and this is a novelty for me.

Last summer I was in love with SP wax mediums and that is where I began leaving thin layers transparently for the reflective effect. Before that I was seriously textural in paint use. What I do see here is that the mix is not working. The color and quality of light in the belly is glowing to me but the strokes are not consistant enough to pull off that silky look of fur. The flat light on his rump was trying to emphasize the quality of evening light I was showing on her shirt. It is a matter of shifting all the values in the piece and re-establishing the whole thing down a value or two to get this, but I made the mistake of showing the client and she needs it dry today.

I think I will ask her to hang it as is for a month or two as an attention grabber and return it on the next trip to refine it.

Telling her to tell interested clients that it is a work in progress, maybe even send an easel with her to display it on, could be a really good thing!

01-30-2006, 02:07 PM	#4
Debra Jones Juried Member Featured in Pastel Journal Joined: Jan 2002 Location: Arizona Posts: 457	Thanks all, and one friend in private, for your input. I think that tangential hillside is probably what I couldn't put my finger on. IT does require a bit of Sitar music and a quiet meditation for me to analyse a photo and step back to NOT put something in. Cindy that commentary on the quantity of content is the issue I feel stretched about. Alexandria, the attention of the gaze has been going around in my head. I find it does create impact to have the viewer confronted by a single subject. As a standard in portriature, that nice "howdy" sort of feeling brings the person into the moment, but this relationship between the two subjects is something to be considered. Another friend felt the horse was upstaging the piece. That is good! I want this to have more impact on the potential animal art, my people are pretty strong and this reference is indeed about the horse, with the human secondary. Perhaps my problem is that I have not established that enough. It may be that very balance that is NOT right. Upstaging is about stealing the limelight, not demanding it. I can see ways that I could have done much more to pull the attention to one or the other subject. But about that paint. It is deceptive, but it has very few thin areas, I just loaded it up - with white, so it feels thin. The permalba addiction and I began on white canvas (.... another sure fire bad move on my part.) The chest of the horse and the skirt are the thinnest areas and this is a novelty for me. Last summer I was in love with SP wax mediums and that is where I began leaving thin layers transparently for the reflective effect. Before that I was seriously textural in paint use. What I do see here is that the mix is not working. The color and quality of light in the belly is glowing to me but the strokes are not consistant enough to pull off that silky look of fur. The flat light on his rump was trying to emphasize the quality of evening light I was showing on her shirt. It is a matter of shifting all the values in the piece and re-establishing the whole thing down a value or two to get this, but I made the mistake of showing the client and she needs it dry today. I think I will ask her to hang it as is for a month or two as an attention grabber and return it on the next trip to refine it. Telling her to tell interested clients that it is a work in progress, maybe even send an easel with her to display it on, could be a really good thing! __________________ http://dog-a-dayartblog.blogspot.com/ Because some people have four legs.