Canna flower

[Surfinia]

MY IMAGE(S):



GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Canna flower
Year Created: 2002
Medium: Pencil
Surface: Paper
Dimension: 8
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
This is drawn in graphite pencil with dark highlights in charcoal pencil. I want to submit it for a charity fund-raising book which will be printed in black and white. The original is on a light cream-colored paper (not bluish as the digital photo here).

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
Any comments are welcome, but I would like critique on composition and use of values, also. The flower in my reference photo had rain drops all over the petals. I included only some of the drops, and defined them more than they were on the photo. I was wary of over defining them, thinking they would detract from the flower itself.

Thank you for your input.

Here's a smaller version - I noticed on my screen the first image was too large to see it all at once.

[Bellydanser]

The drawing is lovely and very effective. I think you were wise to edit out some of the droplets. I do not find these 'over' defined. They work well with the tone and contrast of the rest of the image. Nice photorealism with the soft background.

[Carol Lois]

Agreeing with the above and thought I'd comment on the composition. The positive shape seems to be a 'V' on its side, with the greatest contrast and interest at the point of the 'V', which works very well here.
Tiny quibble: since the arms of the 'V' are anchored to the right side of the page, you might have anchored the point to the left side--for a calmer, quieter mood. But that depends on your intention. This way you have created a certain drama with that "floating" point.
To carry out the composition more strongly, you could have made the leaves below a bit darker in value and/or you could have made the background a very dark value. I would be interested to know what you the artist wanted here. Delightful drawing!
Carol Haywood

[Surfinia]

since the arms of the 'V' are anchored to the right side of the page, you might have anchored the point to the left side--for a calmer, quieter mood.

Thanks for your helpful comments, Carol. I'm not real sure what you meant by the above comment - could you explain this a little more? (I'm dense, I guess! - also, am rather a novice about art and "concepts" - just go with what seems to look good to me).

I wondered about making the background darker - I did somewhat follow the values in the photo. Your suggestion gives me courage to darken it some more (think I'll try that on some tracing paper first).

[Carol Lois]

Please excuse me if I was mystifying. I'll try to say it better this time. If you squint at the picture, the light flower petals form the positive (subject) shape of a rounded, upside-down'V'.
This is good composition whether it was your plan or just an accident. It's a simple pattern that guides the eye around the picture in a pleasing way.
What an artist may do to increase viewer pleasure even more is to make that positive shape stand out from the background (negative space) by making everything else somewhat darker than the flower petals.
If you have a light subject, you surround it with darker shapes. If you have a dark subject, lighter shapes.
To have your two arms of the 'V' touching the edge of the picture 'anchors' the subject visually. That's neither good nor bad, but I think with delicate subjects like flowers it's good. So I'm saying it might be better if the edge on the left stopped inside the petal instead of outside. (That would anchor the whole flower to the left edge as well as the right.)Just put a piece of paper over the left side a little ways in, and see the difference and decide whether YOU like it or not.
I do enjoy talking/emailing with people about their work. The ideas are for you to accept or reject as feels right to you. I just think it's fun to talk about and explore the artistic choices made or rejected.
Let's see more from you soon!
Carol Lois

[Carol Lois]

Oops, I'm sorry. Only one arm of the 'V' seems anchored to the right side; the other seems anchored to the bottom. I don't have good visual memory and lost it there. Otherwise, I meant what I said.
Carol Lois

[Surfinia]

Thanks, that's more clear now. Input like you've given is very helpful and always welcome.