Wash or no wash?

[Blogan]

This painting bothers me for some reason. The background is diffently weak and I'm not sure what I could do with that if any thing at all. I'm wondering if another deep dark wash would at least smooth it out. Any ideas?

[Blogan]

I'm sorry I'm new at this. This a watercolor whith winsor and newton paints on 300lb cold press arches half sheet. I crop the photo a little so it proubly doesn't look like a half sheet.

[Yorky]

It would probably look a little smoother with another coat. What mix did you use? Make sure you maintain a wet edge.

Doug

[painterbear]

Hi Blogan,
Welcome to the Watercolor Forum!

Your painting is looking very nice so far. There is a strong sense of light entering from the upper left. That would definitely give you the opening to add a bit more depth to the background on the right side of the painting and under the table.

I can see a mix of colors in the black which is good. Maybe another glaze with those same colors????

I think the dark shadow on the side of the vase is a bit confusing because it is so dark on the top part and then paler at the bottom. The shadows on the apples should have some of the red body color showing through IMHO.

Sylvia

I've moved your thread to The Studio because that is where we come for help such as you are asking about. The Gallery is where we put our finished works.

[Blogan]

The mix is wn cadmium red deep and a Prussia blue witch is a Van Gogh paint. The apple shadow I should be able to fix that pretty easly. How could I add more depth in the background? By adding shapes or I'm not sure I understand, I thought about scubing out small wallpaper like shapes like little flowers or fruit kind of suggesting a wall. a pattern

[Scene Chaser]

Nice job on the vase and lace, though.
Bill

[Brindle]

Well first of all, I think it is a lovely piece because I'm a big fan of dramatic contrast! That said, the first thing that catches my eye are the visible brushstrokes in the background that follow the front contour of the vase, the flower stem, and the somewhat around the rose. They make things look unfinished and draw too much attention to the background. A couple more glazes to just push that background into...well...the background...might help. There is enough detail and visual interest in the rest of the piece that any detail you tried to bring out in the background such as a wallpaper pattern or something might compete, distract, and otherwise be overkill.

It may just be your scan or photo but the shadow on the right side of the vase seems like a black blob...if it's like that in the real piece, you might want to lighten it. Something between the darkness it appears to be now and the shadow down the rest of the back edge of the vase would probably be about right and should be more or less consistent from top to bottom unless there is another light source that would be playing there or some non-obvious reflected light.

I really like this! The lace is fabulous.

[Blogan]

Thanks for the good ideas I think I'll try to pull some of that shadow out a little. I think youre right. maybe also darking the background and smoothing it out a bit well make the shadow to the right look a little lighter

[zoodlemaker]

You're asking what can be improved, but I have to say the lace is fantastic, love the left apple particularly, and the rose and the light side of the vase, both wonderful as well.