CRITIQUE 12 - TWO ABSTRACTS part 1 and 2

QUESTION from Jan Stickland:  Please give me your honest opinion of them and if i could improve on them somehow
ANSWER:  
Hi Jan - thank you so much for submitting for a critique!  Your abstracts are vibrant and full of color!  Very lovely!!
I don't need to talk color as you have a vast knowledge of it already!!
But I will talk about using value to set up a composition in a painting like this where you cannot lean on the structure of shapes to create the composition.

When an image has a lot of the same or similar value it may not have a strong focal point or direction for the eye to follow or be held in the piece.  
If you notice in the first image, it is much the same value overall, however, there is a hint of the eye heading toward the vortex...  so - If I enhanced that though hopefully we will see a stronger composition with interest to make the eye travel within the piece and also an area to slightly hold the eye's interest.
ORIGINAL PAINTING:

EDITED IMAGE:
Note the stronger lighted areas and how they grab your eye and lead you around the painting in a swirl motion to the center dark area just below the highlighted school of fish.

 There are several patterns that artists utilize in paintings whether they are abstract or representational.  one is the z pattern another is the triangle and so on.  These patterns make the eye follow through the piece to "read" it and create visual interest and visual sense.

For people who read left to right the eye naturally looks for patterns that match that idea.  Same with right to left readers, etc.
A strong pattern in this piece (to me) is a triangle

This is not the only answer, of course...  but it might give you a jump start!  
Best of luck with your work - it is wonderful!!
cj
PART 2:

QUESTION from Jan Stickland:  Please give me your honest opinion of them and if i could improve on them somehow
ANSWER:  PART 2 
Hi Jan - thank you so much for submitting for a critique!  Your abstracts are vibrant and full of color!  Very lovely!!  And I apologize for the photoshop mutilation of your artwork!  ;)
Again, great use of color and great excitement and movement in your 
ORIGINAL WORK:

Of course - for every "rule" there is the exception!  
I spoke a bit about patterns with your last abstract piece in part 1.

We read from left to right and tend to read paintings in the same manner.  If we don't  find landmarks where we expect them, then we are confused and do not know that to look at.
So, as in this piece, we give em landmarks via shape size and by changing value and contrasting areas in this
CRITIQUE:

So you see ... we have set the pattern the eye will follow with the falling orbs into a dark center with a glowing atmosphere that leads to the focal point of the highest contrasting values which is the left edge of the "hole"    
So you can set up tried and true patterns in your paintings - OR, you can set your own path for the eye to follow through your piece.
I hope that helps some - and remember - everything said is brought from that person's experiences in life - so you might find other solutions that work just as well from your experiences.  
There are many paths to the same goal! -cj
Best to you -
CJ

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CRITIQUE 11- Rocky Pass

QUESTION from Magga Rósa:    Would you be kind enough to tell me what I can do with this one. I´m a bit bored with it.

 Is the sky too blue?  Should I put a flying seabird in front of the painting, to make it more interesting?

ANSWER and CRITIQUE:

Lovely painting!! 
My idea would be to lead the viewer through your painting using value and bright color pops. 

To test your Bird idea: You could also cut a small bird in a correct size for placement out of paper (believable color) and place him around in appropriate areas of your painting to see if he would add or detract.  

My gut feeling is he would detract from or steal the scene.  But you don't know until you test it out.

with some direct painting, I would enhance the sky behind and water in front of the pass through the rocks. Here is an image with a few notes:

Why I edited color and value to make a story and path for the eye to follow:

1. The eye enters the painting gently from the front edge and is gently lead to the pass via color and higher values... 2. you pass through and the brighter sky over the left hump makes you glance, 3. but the longer area of bright blue sky and swoop of the rock on the right leads you to the right side of the painting.  4. A secondary opening is between the right rock and the series of 3 rocks.  I have grayed down the right hand sky and water to hold the eye within the painting.  5. you pass back to the front of the painting on the right side through the grayed areas of the sky and water... 6. you may look all the way to the front left but the grayed water is such that your eye goes back to the values and bright color leading you back through the opening. 

see the ideas below in the edited image minus the text:

I do over-accentuate my ideas via photoshop -  you actually may not want the changes to be this drastic..  ;)

ORIGINAL:

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CRITIQUE 10 - Values

QUESTION from Terry: Please have a look at this one for me CJ..  It's been on the back burner since 06 and really needs to escape from the studio.It's four feet square, Acrylic on an Oak Plywood panel..

ANSWER: AND CRITIQUE
Terry,   Cool painting! Time to finish it up!!  ;)
I would work with the values-

Enhance main character:  Highlights on the main character bring the eye more strongly to the focal point. Note how I have added several brightened areas to the main figure... You don't want to add too much, but just enough to make the eye see the whole figure and stay interested with maybe a glimpse or two to the outer edges.

I also enhanced the row of ladies as I feel they are of secondary importance. In turn, I enhanced some of the grass at the dancer's feet to lead the eye to and from the dancers.

To help the eye know what to look at, I dulled down the color on the sides to keep the eye from becoming overwhelmed with bright value and color. especially hot spots of color in the form of one bloom or several.

You can dull down the background areas with a thin glaze of grayed down color and of course you can enhance the figure with stronger/lighter and brighter color via glazes and direct painting.
 EDITED IMAGE:


ORIGINAL IMAGE:

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ENCAUSTIC -hot beeswax painting discussion

WHAT IS ENCAUSTIC?
Ask your questions in this discussion area!

Some info:
Encaustic means to burn in...  It is used here as it applies to a hot beeswax painting method.
Encaustic paint:  It is a mix of beeswax, damar, high quality powdered pigments. Also companies like Enkaustikos and others now make Encaustic paint to purchase in art stores.

Substrate: absorbent and firm - for instance, birch panels.   Ampersand and others now make specially coated Encaustic boards.  These boards have a white surface.

• Paint with encaustics on a firm surface or the wax will crack and flake off.

NO ACRYLIC- not wise to mix acrylics with encaustic - 
FUMES - unless you put toxic substances into your mix, it will be similar to burning a beeswax candle.  Ventilation is highly recommended if you plan to mix up large batches of paint.


EXAMPLES of hot tools and melted Encaustic Paint

Demonstration of fusing a top layer of "paint" 
Artwork is on a small birch wood panel


Below are 2 Encaustic works.  The Koi are on a Birch Board
The poppies are on an Ampersand Encaustic cradled panel

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CRITIQUE 9 - focal point

QUESTION from Dawn:
 review:It is a quick painting drawn out of imagination.  

ANSWER AND CRITIQUE:

Hi Dawn, I would be happy to review your painting.  Very unique and interesting piece!

I have done a very rough edit via photoshop -  One way to create cohesiveness and a focal point is to lower values and dull the colors around the outer edges thus leading the eye to the focal point of the.  
The image is very interesting and there is a lot of action, but that also might make it seem chaotic if the values are even across the painting...  so I suggest to darken and tone down edges and leave the brightness and most action at the focal point.  PS -  I may have darkened edges a bit too much in photoshop...  but I think the general idea is there ...  
You can tone down large areas like this with a series of thin glazes in your medium.

CRITIQUE IMAGE:


ORIGINAL image:

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CRITIQUE 8 -Portrait of Father

Alice, Very nice likeness and sketching!   I will offer tips and ideas to aid in spacing of the features.   Hope it helps - and - Thank you for allowing me to offer pointers concerning your portrait!

cj

PS - forgive the measure markings in the hair!!  lol

CRITIQUE:

TIP: A good idea with any painting or sketch is when you think you are finished, turn both the painting and the resource photo upside down and then on its edge and see how it looks. By turning the image, you start seeing it more abstractly as shapes and values. Turned, you are more likely to spot if something is a bit off kilter, etc.

TIP: Measure an eye in the original photo - then use that measurement as a base for marking off distance and spacing for all facial features in the photo.

THEN - measure the same eye (either right or left) in your drawing and make the same spacing measurements on the drawing.  For instance maybe the nose is a certain number of "eye's" long, and so on.  This will make sure you have features properly sized and spaced. IF your drawing is the same size as the image in your photo, then you can apply the photo measurements to the drawing too.

TIP: when you feel your portrait is complete, set it aside for a few days, covered. THEN without looking at it, (don't peek!) set it up in an area that you might come around a corner and see it- and walk away without looking! .... I know it sounds crazy, but trust me... When you are surprised later by walking into the view of the piece, it will be like seeing it for the first time. If anything is "off" you will see it in that first glimpse and as you walk closer to the piece. Artists will do these things to get a fresh view or perspective on their own artwork.

TIP: View image in a mirror for a fresh perspective

TIP: take a photo and look at it on the computer screen or print it for a fresh view.

WORD OF WARNING about  working from PHOTOS - "Photos lie!" Well.. ok, they don't always portray the actual truth of a subject. One instance is where a photo might show a black area with no details might actually be not so black and full of details in person! So be aware that especially on a face - we do not have any detail-less black areas.

VALUE TIP: find the area on your portrait that is the darkest value and place it onto your drawing

Thank you for allowing me to critique your portrait - I hope these tips are helpful.

cj

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CRITIQUE 7 - FLORAL REVIEW

images below are copyright protected and are not for use other than in this post as a learning tool. These are only suggestions for variations on this piece.

 Question from Jan Stickland:
"Hey CJ! Want to know your opinion on how to make this painbetter! THANKYOU!" 

 CRITIQUE: To check a painting I recommend taking a photo of the artwork in grayscale or transforming it to grayscale in a photo program.

Now you can check the basic structure of the piece without the distraction of color.

Grayscale Check Points:

1. Note if your focal point created by value (light and dark) is where you expect/desire it to be. 
2. Is the direction of the lighting consistent?
3. Do you have a variety of shapes, sizes and spacing for interest?
4. is the background conflicting with elements of your composition
5. Have items seemingly disappeared due to a lack of contrast?
6. Edit the contrast in Photoshop until the desired effect is reached.

JAN'S ORIGINAL COLOR PAINTING:

  

JAN'S ORIGINAL COLOR PAINTING converted to grayscale:

CRITIQUE:

I recommend trying out different things in your photo editing software before editing your actual painting.
Start by editing a grayscale version of your piece. Then bring it back to color and adjust as needed.
After you have a clear idea of what you want to do - go ahead and edit the actual painting or create a new painting.

Edited grayscale image by CJ
Get in those lights and darks where you want them for drama in the picture!

  

A few additions:

1. enhanced light source from the right side
2. To add interest, create an erratic shaped bouquet instead of rounded
3. add some dangly bits hanging off the side of vase to catch the eye and lead inward
     and to break the boundaries of the vase and outer edges of the main bouquet.
4. you could even add some flowers that may have dropped to the table top.
5. Add few larger flowers to balance the small ones or add a cluster of
     flowers for a larger spot of concentration.
6. Soften the red in the background so it is not a main/major player in the composition.
   

EDITED Color IMAGE by CJ

create an entry point (the dangling flowers and the light spot on the vase)..

1. create a path for the eye to follow through the composition (do this with color and value)
   
   
   

Thank you for allowing me to critique your wonderful floral painting - It is vibrant and beautiful just the way it is! CJ

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