Thursday, June 7, 2007

Final on the Lily

I just can't wait to stop looking at this picture. There, it's done. Although I learned quite a bit the last few days working on it, I don't consider this a success. So onto what I learned:
  • I'm a line person, I'm simply fascinated by the lines in and around things. Normally this is a good thing - line creates a strong composition, simplifies shapes, and brings action to a work. In this case, however, I went obsessive and it is all a little hard to look at. The lines in the lily's petals are almost too much by themselves, then combined with that background - YIKES!
  • I don't even want to talk about that background. It's just horrendous. Maybe I'll play around with cutting it out in my new PS Elements program!
  • On the positive side, I really enjoyed working with the CP medium. Having tried the methods of others in the past (and been frustrated), it was fun to let go and just try something.
  • Because I grew disappointed with this work early on, I felt free to improvise with it. In some places you can tell I faked it, in others the improvisation worked.
  • Finally, this experience has left me "hungry for more" in a sense, sort of like, unfulfilled potential. That is a good starting place for the Georgia O'Keeffe month.
In fact, I began reading last night. I read my first book...more on that later.

Just in case you wondered what a difference lighting makes...here's the same picture with the artificial lights turned on:
And to be honest, the first image is closer to what I would like the color of the lilies to be in my garden. The second one is closer to what they actually are!

4 comments:

Making A Mark said...

What an interesting difference the light makes.

I think O'Keeffe month combined with learning about CPs is a pretty steep learning curve - I wouldn't be too tough on yourself.

Maybe you'd have enjoyed this one more if you'd cropped right in. That's what I was finding at the beginning of the month. You start with a crop then make it a bit tighter, then a bit tighter again - and so on.

Have you seen what Robyn has been up to her with her O'Keeffe macro florals?

Rose Welty said...

Katherine, again, thanks for stopping by and offering suggestions and encouragement!

I actually did the lily just for a change and then decided to do O'Keeffe, but you're right about the cropping.

I have seen what Robyn has been doing. And afterwards I really needed Maggie's post about self-doubt and the noodle!

Robyn Sinclair said...

Rose - I'm rather late on the scene and I think you are way, way too hard on yourself. When I opened this post my first response was: Wow, that's a beautiful lily. I've had the experience of hating something myself and other people really liking it. I know it doesn't help.

Rose Welty said...

Robyn,
Thank you for your encouragement. I'm learning with CPs as you are learning with pastels! I'm sorry I've been lurking on your blog so long without commenting. Your work is stunning - very effortless (at least seemingly so). I think that is what I don't like about the lily - it looks like I sweated over it. But it helps to know that others like it.