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Which is why it became easy to dispense with the lamp, but then less easy to stick with the orchids, and even more problematic to explain the "table" -- which of course isn't table height, and is otherwise an object difficult to explain in this conception.
What I finally had to do in my own compositions is go to a sort of VGR test -- what is the Very Good Reason that I've included an object in my Composition? The question has to be asked and has to be answered in terms of composition, which in turn has to play into theme. There could be a hole in the composition and you could fill it with a railroad clock, but that has to have something to do with the focal subject(s), or else it's just a prop, which was the lesson Daniel Greene was teaching me.
Amanda, you've at least twice expressed a desire to include the lamp, so I've tried to figure out how you can do that. But there remain myriad alternatives. The figures could be moved up, with a small round presentation table bearing the orchids somewhere in the lower part of the piece, taking the point of a triangle with the other two being the heads of the subjects. And so on. All my observations are in the nature of "think about this," rather than "do this."
Mother-Child is your painting. Everything else should be subordinate to that theme.
By the way, I cleaned and dressed the wound, which is why I'm still typing. Plus -- I think the potential for this piece is enormous, and I'm very impressed with your engagement in the feedback.
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