7/15/10

Part 2: Finished Painting--Lessons Learned The Hard Way


"Sunflower Morning"  12" x 36" Watercolor mounted on Gallery Wrapped Canvas.                                        


Finished...Notice how I camouflaged the area where the Butterfly had been removed. The difference here between saving a painting and needing to start totally over lies in being fast with ingenuity, and  the ability to camouflage. For a successful camouflage, placement within overall painting is key. Because this work is long and narrow, the placement was a natural for adding a spot of dense background into offending area. However, had it been that same size area, say, closer to the bottom, my problem would have been a great deal more complicated. 

Adding another Sunflower in the spot would have been out, as it most certainly was here! Why? Well because the bruised and firmly washed paper would not have taken paint in the same way, and with the same precision of placement already applied in Sunflower blossoms. Therefore something totally different  applied here was being called for...  Had offending area actually been lower, I probably would have place the  stone wall much lower in composition, and gone from there. 

This is both the value and the pitfalls of following your muse while Painting, rather than going through all of the steps of planning, sketching, using a layout, etc. as one approaches every new piece.

4 comments:

Billie Crain said...

Nice save, Vera! *thumbsup*

Vera Dennen said...

Belated thank you on this one Billie!

Helen Stannard said...

What a beautiful painting - good thing you stuck it out! Ditto on what you said...I too, have had paintings that I considered trashing but persevered and was so glad I did. No matter...it is always a good learning experience.

Vera Dennen said...

Thank you Helen for your comment, and yes, this painting has inspired me 'anew on what can really be done with Watercolor!