Untitled

impressionist2 · #1 09-24-2002, 03:19 PM

MY IMAGE(S):

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Untitled
Year Created: 2002
Medium: Oil
Surface: Canvas
Dimension: 16
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
I am opening this up to critique. I am not blocked, just think there's enough of the painting done to ask for reactions from others. Have no idea if this is just started, half done, or finished. I am exploring this for myself on the side, while I work on my regular commissions.

I have left this untitled as I know what this painting means to me, but I do not want to impose that on the viewer.

I remember truthful criticisms in the past the most and also learned the most from them.

I am allowing alterations with trepidation. There is something in me saying "don't touch this, this is mine". So, please alter with respect to that feeling. Thank you.

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
Critiques please on color and design. Impact on the viewer , if any.

madster · #2 09-25-2002, 07:43 PM

This is a very powerful piece. I like the textures, the composition, the background. It is very enjoyable to look at.

The only thing that does not appeal to me personally it the color palette. For me, it's too 'pastel-y', and needs at least one good shot of color, but that is me.

Overall, I think it is really well done!

Maddy

impressionist2 · #3 09-26-2002, 06:10 AM

Maddy, Thank you for your critique.

I was starting to think it was the worst kind of painting- one that can just be ignored!

Okay, the part of the painting that bothers me the most is the color on the old woman on the left ( facing the painting). It started out as the violet blend but I added a touch of burnt umber to the mix and it gave it that earthy tone and way too much red/blood for what I was trying to say about aging. She actually should be the grayest, stone color (psychologically), that I gave to the middle figure.

Did you get that this is one person, aging? Ofcourse, it became autobiographical ( although none of them look like me) and with the addition of what became ( to me) the Brooklyn Bridge ( birthplace) in the background, identification for me, became unavoidable.

Spans of the bridge, the span of our lifetime. Being child, woman, elderly all at once. The kind of feeling people get when they say, "Where did the time go? I don't feel like my age."

The mood was everything in this painting-the blue representing contemplation and perhaps sadness as this is the autumn of the lifetime. What's done is done. At this point I am afraid to touch the painting and make any dramatic color changes ( although I need to) that will change this mood. I will take this into photoshop and play with it.

Thank you.

Renee

**JustjoGA** · #4 09-26-2002, 07:40 AM

What thought occurred to me as I looked, rather than autobiog... was ... three generations of women, and the colors represent their prominence in your memory.. so the white would be oneself... I do think that more color in the background, and at least some touches in the white face would give it more impact.

impressionist2 · #5 09-26-2002, 09:20 AM

Jo, Thank you.

I hear you on more color in the middle figure, and I agree.

I do not want to break the mood, and I am having a problem deciding which color would solve the problem.

Renee

byron · #6 09-27-2002, 02:58 PM

i enjoyed the piece. it is fresh and lively. the piece as your first post stands reminds me of an elderly lady remembering. the stronger colors of the left lady being the strongest and most lifelike. the other two fade into the memory.i think it is a great peice.
-byron-

impressionist2 · #7 09-27-2002, 08:49 PM

Byron, Gads, why didn't I think of that?! Ofcourse, she is the one thinking of the memories-logical.

Hence the blood color on her.

Thanks for the great interpretation.

Renee

ellenf · #8 09-27-2002, 11:43 PM

Impressionist2,

I love what you're doing. Three generations of women with their history included. It is quite stirring for me, as I search for my maternal roots.

You've created a very strong central focus on the middle subject. Should you want to emphasize this, and move the eye around the canvas, might I suggest pushing the backround away in key places? I quickly played with your image in photoshop and would submit this. Done with love; I hope you don't mind.

Please post progress.

impressionist2 · #9 09-28-2002, 07:54 PM

Ellen, Yes, I see what you did, and you succeeded in pushing the background back. Only thing is , it's a tad too black for me. Perhaps a transparent navy............hmmm. Want to keep that blue mood theme.

I do love what you did with the color in the lower right corner. Yowsa! Looks like a chalice and I see you used my own texture. That is great. Very medieval.

You know one funny thing is whenever I see you post, I always think of you as a "couple", because at quick glance that portrait seems like your husband standing there next to you!

Thank you for your advice.

Renee

ellenf · #10 09-28-2002, 11:19 PM

Renee,

I'm glad you didn't mind me fooling with your image. That's a very ticklish thing. Many times I fiddle with someone's work and decide not to post it.

I agree. My results looked very - too much - black. I guess I concentrated on values... in Photoshop I used only the "burn" tool. Thus I never really painted with color exactly. Just pushed depth.

I took a class in college under an elderly woman who had studied with Hans Hoffman. She taught one particular composition theory. It basically had to do with a directional triangle eminating from either the top left third or lower right third of the canvas.

Your piece seemed to want this, in my mind. The triangle - that's the area where you saw the "chalice" - I was just playing with direction. Ha! Nice that it should mean something tangible...

I guess my tiny head is a little silly. Your comment is ironically on target - I've been more married to old Cornwallis the last eight weeks than to my dear, understanding, SUPPORTIVE husband. Soon will end the affair, hehe! Deadline's bearing down.

Please post progress, Renee. Want to see where this painting goes. Much luck!!!

impressionist2 · #11 09-29-2002, 08:25 AM

Ellen, That's funny about ol' Cornwallis. Let me know when and where the final posting of the image is, when it happens.

Well, when I first posted this painting, I thought "this could go either way" vis a vis critiques. I was prepared for "this is really bad, don't do this again"! Hah!

But, all of you have encouraged me to stay with the theme of the generations and a new painting has begun.

I will fix the blue value in this one, push the landscape back and in the next two weeks and post the results. Plus, I will place the new one here as well.

I am in a very experimental mood lately and the new painting is in acrylics. It is so much easier to apply and control in a semi- abstract than oils and I can see why so many abstract painters prefer it.

Thanks all for the input, it really helped.

Renee

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