LarrySeiler
07-16-2000, 09:48 AM
Okay Bob...
I took just a little extra time to photoshop and Power Point this composition of yours. Your new submission of changes made came out dark on my system for some reason too, don't know why.
At any rate...I thought this might best explain what I was originally trying to get at...here it is, with a few visual aides...
<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/Sunset5Bobsart.jpg" border=0>
You can see I have divided the picture in half. You now have the option of formal balance or symmetrical...which you have not opted for obviously. The other option is asymmetrical. Now...if for some aesthetic reason the artist wishes to create tension in the piece, perhaps to disturb the viewer, one does not have to balance the painting at all. I would suspect you wish to leave the viewer with a tranquil feeling so I will assume "tension" is not the device you want.
You can see from the dividing line, that nearly 90% of the visual mass resides to the right of that line. The rocks do assist in leading the eye to the upper cloud, and the brightness of the sun in the way of contrast with the ground always bridges and leads the eye up...(signified by my curved arrow line leading up).
Something is needed as a "device" to lead the eye over to the other side of the painting to balance out this image and avoid the tension I eluded to. You have a bit of a finger from the cloud that acts as a "pointer" but its effect is minimal in lieu of the overwhelming weight on the right and lower side.
I drew a line coming down about to the 8 O'clock position pointing to an area I outlined with an oval, thinking it needs something about here...some dynamic that says "look at me!" so that the eye does not trail off the right side of the picture plane and leave. I do not think the finger cloud above is sufficient as a device to alone pull the eye over.
Now...there may be other devices to alleviate this problem, and one may have been to position the heavier rocks slightly more left of the dividing line, then you would have a diagonal play going on, and still that might make the balance "trite."
Thus..I was thinking of a slightly darker cloud here (oval)...perhaps a seagull, something. JMO (just my opinion)
Larry
I took just a little extra time to photoshop and Power Point this composition of yours. Your new submission of changes made came out dark on my system for some reason too, don't know why.
At any rate...I thought this might best explain what I was originally trying to get at...here it is, with a few visual aides...
<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/Sunset5Bobsart.jpg" border=0>
You can see I have divided the picture in half. You now have the option of formal balance or symmetrical...which you have not opted for obviously. The other option is asymmetrical. Now...if for some aesthetic reason the artist wishes to create tension in the piece, perhaps to disturb the viewer, one does not have to balance the painting at all. I would suspect you wish to leave the viewer with a tranquil feeling so I will assume "tension" is not the device you want.
You can see from the dividing line, that nearly 90% of the visual mass resides to the right of that line. The rocks do assist in leading the eye to the upper cloud, and the brightness of the sun in the way of contrast with the ground always bridges and leads the eye up...(signified by my curved arrow line leading up).
Something is needed as a "device" to lead the eye over to the other side of the painting to balance out this image and avoid the tension I eluded to. You have a bit of a finger from the cloud that acts as a "pointer" but its effect is minimal in lieu of the overwhelming weight on the right and lower side.
I drew a line coming down about to the 8 O'clock position pointing to an area I outlined with an oval, thinking it needs something about here...some dynamic that says "look at me!" so that the eye does not trail off the right side of the picture plane and leave. I do not think the finger cloud above is sufficient as a device to alone pull the eye over.
Now...there may be other devices to alleviate this problem, and one may have been to position the heavier rocks slightly more left of the dividing line, then you would have a diagonal play going on, and still that might make the balance "trite."
Thus..I was thinking of a slightly darker cloud here (oval)...perhaps a seagull, something. JMO (just my opinion)
Larry