TBD

TBD on Ning

Hi, All,

Welcome to our new little art group. Introduce yourself and help us form a community that will thrive and help us thrive! Describe what you do (where you are if you like - often our environment is a huge part of what we become and are) and what you might want from an art group. Post pictures of some of your work. (Click the little photo image above and upload something or link through the photo image to a picture on the web.)

Tags: art, artists, introductions, welcome

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photo of a tiny Christmas bear in an Amaryllis flower

I take pictures of anything every day...

I'm WS, I've been on TBD since pretty much the beginning. I am an aspiring artist who didn't have the guts to major in art in school and who has regretted it ever since. I have sat in on endless hours of University art courses and continue to do so in order to stay in practice and inspired. I work with video and sculpture, but love the most drawing and painting (and mixed media that allows me to use any combination of the activities just mentioned. I also dabble in photography and fiber arts (but I do want to keep this an art-based group.) I think crafts have a good group here called Creative Outlets, so I'd like this group to focus on art with a capital A.

My aspirations are to have a kind of Bloomsbury group that spurs each other on to ever greater work and activity, but artists are solitary people and so the social networking thing can be kind of difficult to use with such a bunch of introverts.

Here are a couple examples of my work

...ok...art...you got it...

...and guilty as charged...introverted...mostly a blessing...often a hindrance...

...it takes me a while to come out of my shell...most people haven't got a clue...

...careful what we wish for...aside from that, hello all...

...I'm stuck on this one...is it a case of not knowing when to stop and call it finished?...I have my thoughts...(example...the bottom foreground is a little weak)...maybe some of you could share yours?...

...old painter's saying..."if you can't handle the heat, don't put it out there"...

...translation...I'm asking for open and honest critique..."ooooo, I love it"s are kind of nice and fuzzy, but they do not satisfy the need to know how to improve it...how can I make it more appealing...

..."florida swamp" 24x36" acrylic on board...

Photobucket

the background looks like a window with sheer curtains instead of trees in a swamp

critique positive :

I really like the vibrant colors especially moss on tree

critique negative :

I thought a tree  that big did not fit in a conservatory but I have never been in a real swamp

I though I was inside looking out a window so maybe the background needs to be "popped" 

...thank you, julia...I appreciate your comment...

...the background...hmmm...I was going for the "steamy" effect...but, you're right...I suppose it is a little too thick...or, unfinished...

...the scene was photographed as is (as far as placement design and complexity)...however, I did take artistic liberties exaggerating the "roller coaster" eye travel...and wanted to emphasize the spatial depth of field...

radar

I just said what my first impression was and also let you know I had never been in a swamp

it makes sense now that there would be steam 

just for the fun of it put a little color on the hanging moss

make it look like the colored moss is behind the steam

if I look at the picture like I am a small animal looking or hiding from prey

I do not see the "window"

...it's ok julia...your first impressions are just as valid as any in depth analysis...after all, it's generally first impression that leads to sales...if one likes something (an artwork) well enough, they usually could care less about the technical applications...

...after spending so much time on the piece, I had reached that 'dead zone' where I couldn't quite determine what, where, how to continue...

...you have opened my eyes to your suggestion, and I intend to utilize it to get me back on track...and hopefully get this piece off my easel...(or out of the cold storage rack...LOL)...

..thank you again...

Hi, radar, I'm SO glad you posted your painting. This is precisely what I was thinking I wanted this group to be about!

This is a very interesting piece. I love the way the green fan palms (or whatever they are bottom center) pull our eye away from the very strong curve of the arched tree trunk. Personally I never care if something looks realistic (although you have done a fabulous job with that!) - so I am much more interested in composition and technique.

You have a foreground middle ground and back ground that are nicely defined (with regard to each other, but I agree with Julia that the background seems a bit flattened out. IN fact each of the grounds seems a bit flattened out within its own plane.) Perhaps you could give each of these grounds a bit more depth by making things less sharply focused in some places and darken or lighten some areas to give more depth/play.

In a way, that beautiful strong arch of the tree trunk is distracting, because it is such a strong element. It is hard to keep the eye from stopping at that arc. You could also gray out parts of the background even more to give it a bit more depth in that particular plane. The leaves on the right side get a bit muddy / muddled with each other - again some stuff in focus and some not would probably help this (but only if you also do some of that with the arched tree on the left.) Maybe darken part of the twig that reaches up so it stands out just a bit more. You do that successfully a little with the ferns at the base of the tree, but maybe doing that a bit at the top could help break that strong line a bit.

I love the interplay of colors. (Especially the greens). You could damp down some of the colors on that arch too, too help break up that line.

I also think strengthening just a little bit of the horizontal tree could go a long way toward breaking that arch line. I think it is a very interesting piece. It uses line beautifully and there is a very lyrical rhythm of the leaves and palm fronds. I like it very much!

Thanks for being so brave to put your piece out there and ask for advice!! Use whatever advice is helpful to you and ignore the rest! Let us know what you decide to do and show us the results! I really do like what you have done!!

...glad to make your acquaintance WS...your group expectation was quickly recognized by me as, hopefully, a good place to drag my brushes out of the doldrums...

...thank you for being so very candid with your critique...you, too, have directed my attention to areas that I should have already resolved...but standing in front of a canvas for too long can easily change your focus and intended first results...it's been a year since I last laid brush to this,; now I can return to it with renewed vigor...

...believe it or not, it is only few steps away from the original burnt umber underpainting...of which much is still visible...

...also, it actually started as an unsuccessful attempt to "loosen up"...I am three year school trained...major in fine arts...particularly strong italian renaissance and "old masters" influences...commercial arts/graphic design secondary...worked as a civil service illustrator for a few years, freelanced and did a few little galleries for a time...I had fallen into the niche of very tight rendering with the proverbial two hair brushes, and 3D miniatures, which subsequently took a toll on my eyesight and my patience and temperament towards realistic painting...

...I do hope that others will join in that may be a little less structured as I am...I seek to find an alternative, perhaps quite a bit more abstract...maybe more impressionistic...short of having to use barn brushes...and hope that I can learn from them...

...thank you again, for your up front analysis...let's see what comes out of this... :)

Hi, radar,  You are exactly the target audience for this group! (Not that anyone has to be school trained in art, but some of us are and I am hoping to continue the art school critique experience in this group.)  Critiques should be honest and kind. No artist should take them personally nor need we/they heed any of the advice. Reactions to art are often personal on the part of the viewer/listener and that means different people will react differently. Sometimes I hear advice and note it, but decide to do something else anyway. That means any additional information that the artist provides about what is hoped for or conceptualized can also be helpful to the viewer/critiquer!

I will put something up soon for critique (well, in about 2 weeks) I have a visit to my relations scheduled and then when I get back I will have more time to be serious about my work again.

Oh, and I am very excited to see what you end up doing with your painting!  Unfortunately the internet is not the best place for really seeing the textures and nuances of our work. Often my drawings get altered in contrast and definition when I photograph them and put them up online. Some figures that are hazy end up being really visible, while clearly rendered ones sometimes disappear. For example (This is the maquette for a larger drawing I am doing of my female relatives) the lower middle figure has disappeared in this photo while the larger face mid upper level is much clearer in the photo than in the original! Go figure!) There is much more contrast in this image than in the original too!

I have an interest in Impressionist art from the second half of the 19 century.  I hope to further my knowledge in this group.

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