From the Artist: I chose this freesia from a bouquet and placed it into a smaller necked vase. It lasted amazingly well over the two days that I took to paint it!
Looking at my painting now I think that I would choose a different color background if I were to do it again -- something that would contrast more. The drapes were something new for me to learn to do and again, I think I need practice in arranging them more effectively. The whole background collapsed while I was working and I reset it, taking the opportunity to add a fold in the bottom left corner that seemed too empty. Overall though, I'm not unhappy with the finished result and have learned things from doing it that I will apply in the future.
From the Painting Guide: It's very pleasing to hear you enjoyed this project's challenge and feel you learned something doing it too. I think this is a beautiful flower portrait that allows the flower center stage and invites us to investigate its character and appearance.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Background: If you'd used a background color that contrasted rather than echoed the colors in the flower, the painting would have quite a different feeling to it. It may well be worth doing another version with a darker background, then compare the two and how you feel about each.
The pinks in the background allow the lighter pinks in the flower to show in a delicate way that I think suits the characteristic of the flower. It also allows the curved leaf and, to a lesser extent the stem, to be a strong element in the composition. I find the leaf pulls my eye in strongly, and then I'm diverted by the details in the flower itself. The folds in the background create a sense of light fall on the scene, as well as depth.
Vase: You've already cropped the vase in your composition, which I like as it allows the flower to dominate the composition. I would take it one step further and eliminate the little bit of negative space to the right of the vase too, cutting the vase off at the edge (like this).
Looking at my painting now I think that I would choose a different color background if I were to do it again -- something that would contrast more. The drapes were something new for me to learn to do and again, I think I need practice in arranging them more effectively. The whole background collapsed while I was working and I reset it, taking the opportunity to add a fold in the bottom left corner that seemed too empty. Overall though, I'm not unhappy with the finished result and have learned things from doing it that I will apply in the future.
From the Painting Guide: It's very pleasing to hear you enjoyed this project's challenge and feel you learned something doing it too. I think this is a beautiful flower portrait that allows the flower center stage and invites us to investigate its character and appearance.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Background: If you'd used a background color that contrasted rather than echoed the colors in the flower, the painting would have quite a different feeling to it. It may well be worth doing another version with a darker background, then compare the two and how you feel about each.
The pinks in the background allow the lighter pinks in the flower to show in a delicate way that I think suits the characteristic of the flower. It also allows the curved leaf and, to a lesser extent the stem, to be a strong element in the composition. I find the leaf pulls my eye in strongly, and then I'm diverted by the details in the flower itself. The folds in the background create a sense of light fall on the scene, as well as depth.
Vase: You've already cropped the vase in your composition, which I like as it allows the flower to dominate the composition. I would take it one step further and eliminate the little bit of negative space to the right of the vase too, cutting the vase off at the edge (like this).