In the Garden

In the Garden
Acrylic
11"x14"
Been a while since I have shown my blog some love.  All of a sudden the skies have opened and we are getting lots and lots of rain - probably close to 6" in 3 days.  It has broken the spell of 90s that we have had so it is  much appreciated by the plants/grass for the wet and me for a reduction of temps.

So it was time to play a bit using a couple of new toys I have gotten.  Still working on textures and using a palette knife.  I used some stencil in this as well to add in extra texture marks.  Big concern here is whether or not I ended up with two focal points using the rule of thirds - Your thoughts please.

I also broke down and got a pthalo turquoise and a gold (not tried that yet) as well as some new brushes and replacement colors.   Finally have painted enough that I have worked my way through some of the original acrylic tubes.  

Hope it adds some color to your day and thanks much to stopping by and taking a look.

Comments

Helen said…
I love everything about this one. I love the color combinations.... the sharp and the blurred edges... the bottom one falling out the corner... Very nice.
August 2, 2018 at 5:20 PM
Sheila said…
I don't think focal points is the problem. Well, maybe. I see the two lower blooms as closer to me. Actually I am saying it wrong. I think those two should be closer. But the top bloom is reading as forward as well, and I think it should be a little further back. Is that what you intended? Also, if that is sky at the top, I think it needs a little more light. Not a whole lot. I just feel that the blooms are Light, and the rest is dark. Maybe there is too much of a contrast.
Having said all that. I do love the depth. I love your blooms, and the suggestion of stems and leaves and plants and smaller flowers. The textures are nice, makes me feel like I AM in the garden, and I just want to take it all in :)
August 3, 2018 at 6:05 AM
Nelvia said…
I really wanted some depth in this one and am happy with the textures. Glad yiu are seeing what I am hoping to convey
August 3, 2018 at 9:30 AM
Nelvia said…
Thanks Sheila, exactly what we am looking for. I tried the sky holes lighter and didn’t think it looked right. Got to ponder how to make the flowers read better, yellow was closest, left flower middle and top rarest back. I gut be as simple as having some grass cross the top flower. So appreciate your thoughts.
August 3, 2018 at 9:33 AM
Mellowood Gallery said…
The different comments are almost as interesting as your painting Nelvia. I must say that I don't like the third flower. Its placement may be OK but the colour is wrong. That is the only place in the painting where the colour appears and I find it totally distracting. The rest of the painting I really like and instead of thinking sky with the light blue I am seeing Forget me nots. Great job and I am glad for you that your temps have cooled and you got some rain - have a great weekend.
August 3, 2018 at 11:30 AM
Joan Tavolott said…
Nelvia, first off I really love the textures and the imperfections that you put in the leaves. They are so much more interesting that way. I do find that the yellow one on the bottom pulls too much attention from the rest of the painting. If I cover it up with my hand there is more harmony in the rest of it. Maybe the third flower needs to be in the same colors as the other flowers do that your eye isn't so distracted. Secondly, the background is so amazing!
August 4, 2018 at 12:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bold woman's portrait

Image
Bold Ok, for today's portrait I went out of the box and decided to try a different look and approach. This is on watercolor paper, I applied a layer of paper collate over it (you can see that some of it started lifting - so got to use more medium to glue it next time)  Anyway then I tried to leave part of that under collage showing, even in the face.  Went back in and applied several more light lawyers of transparent and opaque paint and then put in the hair using my dagger bus.   Gosh that brush makes hair so much easier While this might not the best example what are your thoughts to taking portraits this more dynamic direction? Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more

Her Highness mixed media woman portrait

Image
Her Highness   I just absolutely loved the expression on this lady and knew I wanted to try to capture her elegance and serenity.  I knew that I didn't want an exact portrait and decided to try another mixed media piece.    I added blobs of paint and used my large scraper to make the areas of color.  Just put paint on a piece of watercolor paper.  Then I inscribed and mixed the colors together with the end of my brush and got all the wavy lines (in real life they actually stand up so there is a 3D effect to the background).  Where I thought I wanted the face I really scraped most of the paint off, and ended up with color blotches and tones, and if you look in the forehead you can sort of see the design that was left.  I thought it would add some variance to the skin tones. I also want to keep her very soft so I tried to stay in the pastel tones, even with the lips.   Once I got shadows and lights added in, and went over it with some skin tone and more blue colors I let
Read more

In The Garden acrylic painting Redo

Image
In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more