Magnolia

[Phyllis Rennie]

Am getting ready to start this painting from a photo which I took in my yard last summer. I enhanced the photo to see the form of the blossom a bit more clearly so you may have a hard time seeing all of the leaves.
<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/magnoliaphotoforpainting.JPG" border=0>

This is my planned composition. The blue area is negative space. The area circled in red will be the main area of interest, the area circled in yellow will be the secondary area of interest. Any opinions/suggestions???

<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/CompositionMagnolia.JPG" border=0>

[This message has been edited by Phyllis Rennie (edited January 03, 2001).]

[LarrySeiler]

Just a quick gut reaction, I'd say it at first glance appears that the pictoral balance will be a bit off. So...some device will be necessary to create an effective eye path that will deliver a sense of balance.

Larry

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"Art attacks can skill!"

[Rod]

My thoughts are:-
The main focal point follows the golden rule and is about one third down and across.
With the second point of interest which are the leaves I would try to position and paint them in such a way , so that they guide the eye in and direct the viewer towards the flower. Otherwise they would appear as a distraction from the main focal area.
Negative space has interesting shapes, some repeated but faded colour would be ideal in the background to hint of other plants,
Rod
Rod

[henrik]

Here is a suggested crop of the photo.
<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/magnoliaphotoforpainting-hl1.jpg" border=0>

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[Rod]

Zoomed in as Sandi suggested,


<center><IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/magnoliazoom.jpg" border=0></center>

[Phyllis Rennie]

Rescanned the photo without darkening it so you could see how important the leaves are. While this tree has beautiful blossoms, the leaves are also beautiful. It's comparable to adding a beautiful necklace to a gorgeous dress. My thought is that the ones on the viewers left in the photo should be important in the painting and the ones on the right minimized. Still not sure how to accomplish all that.

<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/Magnolialeaves.JPG" border=0>

[Rod]

Not sure how to accomplish that Phyllis.
But it does bring up a good point on composition. We must always compose with our camera's as well.
Before you take a shot , always think in an artistic way, examine the subject, arrange if necessary and try to get the comosition correct at the time. If you intend to paint the subject, the take one or two shots with different composition ideas , different angles of view, plus some close ups for detail etc,
Rod

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[arlene]

Here's my suggestion.

<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/Magnolialeavesandflower.jpg" border=0>

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[arourapope]

I vote for Arlene's crop. Beautiful magnolia, BTW. Please post the finished painting!
Light,
Aurora

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[Sandi]

If you keep your original plan, but maybe add a subdued downward pointing leaf from the top left, would that help?
I like the breath of 'space' of the original, except for the too large of negative in the top left, and the flower itself could be a bit larger to overlap ..

How did Monet use color, contrast and line to weave the viewers eye in and out?

I'm afraid you'll just have to do a whole series of these, with different zooms, to please us, Phyl. (hint hint) http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

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[Phyllis Rennie]

Originally posted by Rod:
Not sure how to accomplish that Phyllis.
But it does bring up a good point on composition. We must always compose with our camera's as well.
Before you take a shot , always think in an artistic way, examine the subject, arrange if necessary and try to get the comosition correct at the time. If you intend to paint the subject, the take one or two shots with different composition ideas , different angles of view, plus some close ups for detail etc,
Rod



Actually, Rod--that's what I did. But I did it to fit my way of painting -- not for composing a piece that someone else might work from. Actually I rarely paint from photos but since I like to do florals, there is an abundance of them in the summer and few in the winter. I was photoing it with the thought of recording the form and a realistic pattern of light and shadow that I could use later to develop a composition. If I were painting it from life, I would develop the composition in the same way--without the definition of the rectangle formed by the sides of the photo so it is easy for me to disregard the extra stuff around the edges.

[Phyllis Rennie]

Originally posted by Sandi:


I'm afraid you'll just have to do a whole series of these, with different zooms, to please us, Phyl. (hint hint) http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif



Not likely, Sandi !!! http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif I'll probably be bored and ready to move on before I finish it one time.

[Phyllis Rennie]

Well........you're all gonna really hate me. 'Cause after asking for opinions and suggestions, I decided to go ahead with it using my original plan. But I did REALLY study the suggested crops and found a couple really interesting. Thanks, everybody!!! Just didn't fit my vision. So I added a couple of leaves and changed a couple of shapes and did my value sketch and tomorrow I hope to start painting. Phyl

[Rod]

Look forward to seeing the results Phyllis.
Its been an interesting thread, thanks for bringing up the topic,
Rod

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[Phyllis Rennie]

Just posted this in Crit but since it started here, thought I'd post it here as well.

<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/User/MagnoliaWP.JPG" border=0>