Eve's Alternative

Alicia Kornick · 10-15-2004, 04:25 PM

Kim,

There is something about her left hand that bothers me. I don't like the way the apple cuts off the view of the hand. Other than that, I like it very much. My monitor may be off color wise, but it looks very dark on my screen.
Alicia

Sharon Knettell · 10-15-2004, 06:01 PM

Kimberly,

When one is skillful and filled with ideas, we are tempted to GET ON WITH IT and show the world just how wonderful WE ARE! Heavens!

Here comes the dreaded lecture. Color, composition and drawing skills are equally important considerations. Every artist seems to have a dominant ability, yours and mine are probably skillfulness. I had to really struggle with composition. Color forget about it, I was clueless. There are still some highly regarded artists out there today who have absolutely no sense of color. I doubt if their popularity will last beyond their lives, if that.

I had to really work at both color and design. After a while, and a great deal of effort, things came together more spontaneously and I feel that I can try subjects, designs and ideas that were once beyond my reach.

One of the things I do before any large work is to do a quick 2 hour color study. It saves hours of time and revisions.

That said, on to your picture. I feel the figure and face is beautifully handled, toning down the lower part really helped with establishing a focal point. I do agree with Allan that a little more light on the right hand side would re-emphasize the lovely swing of her hips. The line on the arm on the right hand side is too strong, my eye goes to that, it needs to be softened. I do feel that the turban and the bright apples are competing too strongly for your attention. Both are the same value or brightness and are forcing my eyes back and forth. I think Chris Saper mentioned desaturating it, but then again it is a lovely color against the background, but in my opinion it is still a problem.

I covered up the turban, I covered up the apples.
The problem is the orange is screaming for it's complement which is dull blue, but the green background is very happy and needs it's bright red apples complement. So you have TWO competing complemetary color arrangements in conflict. You need a bright red to complement the dull green background, and you need the orange very bright for your theme which would dictate it's blue complement to be duller. However, a dull blue turban would probably not work well against a dull green background.

Kimberly Dow · 10-15-2004, 06:36 PM

OK - there are several comments on the hand/arm there behind the apples. I agree and wish I had this girl to try again, but I dont - so I wont - this will just have to be a learning lesson. Although I will try to make it look better/clearer like has been suggested.

I will soften that line on the back shoulder (our right) - that is bothering me as well now that it has been mentioned.

Sharon - what a great suggestion...Eve's Other Choice...I like it. I will seriously consider changing them thar apples.

Sharon - Now wait just a second. I am not trying to show anyone how wonderful I am. I am trying to learn. But hey - if you say so...ok....Im wonderful.
I dont want to argue about it - your absolutely right - I am terrific!!
No - no - really...you know best and I have to defer to your opinion - I am wonderful! I am SO glad we got that settled!

Thank you Julie, Terri, Allen, Alicia and Sharon - I appreciate it!

Kimberly Dow · 10-15-2004, 06:45 PM

Sharon - now you are jsut trying to confuse me by adding more about the color! The background is actually a neutral gray. I noticed on another critique you gave me that you mentioned a certain color and it wasnt really there. I dont know if it is my computer - or yours. What say the rest of you? Does the background look gray or green? It's in reality a cool gray, blue-ish - with a couple of areas (by the orange and to the right of her head as we look at it ) that has a little orange blended in.

Terri Ficenec · 10-15-2004, 06:59 PM

Well...
I'd actually thought of it as a blue-gray, maybe a little less saturated and lighter than the bottom of her outfit. Until Sharon called it green, then I went back and looked and it does almost look a little green too.

If I pull it up in Paint Shop Pro and use the color selector to get a sense of the RGB's, it looks like maybe it's more of a very neutral dark blue towards the bottom and less blue towards the top, where R is generally higher than G which is higher than B levels putting most of the top half of the painting (surprisingly!) in a very neutral 'orange' shade, according to the Paint Shop Pro color selector!! The colors are so neutral though that I'd guess the tiniest variation in white balance of your photo could change how they appear?

Kimberly Dow · 10-15-2004, 07:08 PM

Terri - I guess...I dont even know enough about photoshop to really follow what you just said! I used fairly neutral gray - no blue in the background, but it still looks cool. The bottom part I added a bit of black and a darker neutral gray. It does appear darker than the original as I keep looking. The hip shape shows more than it does here - I think.

If anyone has ever used John Sanden's portrait colors - the neutral grays are what I used in the background.... I love those pre-mixed grays of his and use them for backgrounds a lot....don't really use the colors for skin though (before anyone gets after me).

Sharon Knettell · 10-15-2004, 07:16 PM

Kimberly,

The background does look olive to me. However, if them there apples stay you would need some green as a complementary. Even if you do not have a color corrected version on the web, it would most likely register more harmoniously than it does. A grey blue background would be better, then you could substitute les oranges.

Apparently a lot of posters think you have a lot of ability or they wouldn't be bugging so unmercifully.

I will try to post my study of Alicia Rose soon to show you how stupid, simple, easy and TIME SAVING an itty bitty 12"x16"color study is.

I was happy with Marvin's Paxton portrait colors and found them exceptionally easy to work with.

I do not use premixed colors as I find the background color so influences the whole composition that it has to be well considered and fine tuned. If you photograph during daylight, a set up of the out-fit against your background color in the same light, will give you the best information as to it's tonality.

Linda Brandon · 10-15-2004, 09:22 PM

Kim,

I held my tongue on your earlier post of this painting because I really do admire this painting, but them thar fruits are too close to the edge of the canvas to make me happy. If you had followed Sharon's directions to make a quick study first, you could have avoided this problem by either resizing Eve totally, or (and this is what I would have done) turning this into a square painting. When I do biggish paintings I cut out a big piece of brown paper the same size as the canvas and do a charcoal study to make sure I don't have compositional problems. More agile minds could figure this out in a 5" x 7" scrap of paper but I seem to need the same-size dummy scrap to visualize porportions.

You have a nice brush technique on this painting, nicely done!

Jimmie Arroyo · 10-16-2004, 03:06 PM

Hey Kim,

Very nice job, I really like the brush application. This is a critique area, so I will just say her right ear does'nt look like it received the same attention. It could just be my screen.
But......

Quote:

Im wonderful.
I dont want to argue about it - your absolutely right - I am terrific!!
No - no - really...you know best and I have to defer to your opinion - I am wonderful

Yes you are, now if you gain about 20-30 lbs, you'd be perfect!

Kimberly Dow · 10-16-2004, 08:40 PM

Jimmie-

Thank you & I will for sure look at that ear again.

Ha! You are a funny guy

Hey sure - I'd be a hot fatty, but 20-30 more and I'd have to walk sideways through my doorways, get sturdier tires on my car and better shoes....it would just be too costly