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Sharon Knettell · 10-15-2004, 06:01 PM

Kimberly,

When one is skillful and filled with ideas, we are tempted to GET ON WITH IT and show the world just how wonderful WE ARE! Heavens!

Here comes the dreaded lecture. Color, composition and drawing skills are equally important considerations. Every artist seems to have a dominant ability, yours and mine are probably skillfulness. I had to really struggle with composition. Color forget about it, I was clueless. There are still some highly regarded artists out there today who have absolutely no sense of color. I doubt if their popularity will last beyond their lives, if that.

I had to really work at both color and design. After a while, and a great deal of effort, things came together more spontaneously and I feel that I can try subjects, designs and ideas that were once beyond my reach.

One of the things I do before any large work is to do a quick 2 hour color study. It saves hours of time and revisions.

That said, on to your picture. I feel the figure and face is beautifully handled, toning down the lower part really helped with establishing a focal point. I do agree with Allan that a little more light on the right hand side would re-emphasize the lovely swing of her hips. The line on the arm on the right hand side is too strong, my eye goes to that, it needs to be softened. I do feel that the turban and the bright apples are competing too strongly for your attention. Both are the same value or brightness and are forcing my eyes back and forth. I think Chris Saper mentioned desaturating it, but then again it is a lovely color against the background, but in my opinion it is still a problem.

I covered up the turban, I covered up the apples.
The problem is the orange is screaming for it's complement which is dull blue, but the green background is very happy and needs it's bright red apples complement. So you have TWO competing complemetary color arrangements in conflict. You need a bright red to complement the dull green background, and you need the orange very bright for your theme which would dictate it's blue complement to be duller. However, a dull blue turban would probably not work well against a dull green background.

10-15-2004, 06:01 PM	#7
Sharon Knettell Approved Member Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 1,730	Kimberly, When one is skillful and filled with ideas, we are tempted to GET ON WITH IT and show the world just how wonderful WE ARE! Heavens! Here comes the dreaded lecture. Color, composition and drawing skills are equally important considerations. Every artist seems to have a dominant ability, yours and mine are probably skillfulness. I had to really struggle with composition. Color forget about it, I was clueless. There are still some highly regarded artists out there today who have absolutely no sense of color. I doubt if their popularity will last beyond their lives, if that. I had to really work at both color and design. After a while, and a great deal of effort, things came together more spontaneously and I feel that I can try subjects, designs and ideas that were once beyond my reach. One of the things I do before any large work is to do a quick 2 hour color study. It saves hours of time and revisions. That said, on to your picture. I feel the figure and face is beautifully handled, toning down the lower part really helped with establishing a focal point. I do agree with Allan that a little more light on the right hand side would re-emphasize the lovely swing of her hips. The line on the arm on the right hand side is too strong, my eye goes to that, it needs to be softened. I do feel that the turban and the bright apples are competing too strongly for your attention. Both are the same value or brightness and are forcing my eyes back and forth. I think Chris Saper mentioned desaturating it, but then again it is a lovely color against the background, but in my opinion it is still a problem. I covered up the turban, I covered up the apples. The problem is the orange is screaming for it's complement which is dull blue, but the green background is very happy and needs it's bright red apples complement. So you have TWO competing complemetary color arrangements in conflict. You need a bright red to complement the dull green background, and you need the orange very bright for your theme which would dictate it's blue complement to be duller. However, a dull blue turban would probably not work well against a dull green background.