Speaking of Art Blog

You would think that rendering a blurry background in a painting would be a piece ‘o cake.  I mean, it’s just fuzzy blobs of color, right?  Not so much.  I needed a lot of practice in successfully rendering fuzzy blobs.

One of the common pitfalls is in the lack of attention being given to how the shapes relate to the center of interest.  Many times I’ll refine an edge of a fuzzy shape after my center of interest is in place.  Look at the background shapes on this new pastel painting of mine, Hello Spring. 

I added most of the blurry colored shapes above the bird first, then I painted the bluebird, then the shapes below the bird, and then the wire perch.  What I paid particular attention to below the bird was whether the blurry shapes that started on one side of the bird or wire perch continued to the other side.  I’ve drawn circles around what I mean.

If a blurry shape suddenly stops at an edge of something in focus and doesn’t continue on the other side of that object, it looks unfinished, like the blurry shapes were an afterthought.  What I have to do is temporarily pretend that my center of interest isn’t there.  Then I ask myself: “How would that shape continue without the in-focus shape in front of it?  Where would it end?”  It’s best not to have a large or long blurry shape end behind an in-focus shape.  The artist enhances the illusion of depth by continuing the blurry shape behind it, and having the blurry shape peek out the other side as well.  It doesn’t have to be by much, just enough to create that illusion.

Here’s another example.  This piece is titled, Little Wren.

See how I continued the light purple blurred background shape all the way across its legs and extended it just beyond them to the other side?  I didn’t stop that background shape when I got to the bird’s legs.

Most of the time I’m following my reference photo with the shapes of the background blobs, but I always tweak a shape and extend it if it’s not going quite far enough behind something.  I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but I refine my blurry shapes to create the illusion of depth.  If a fuzzy background shape starts on one side of an in-focus object, I have it come out the other side, showing up right where my viewer expects to see it.  It’s a subtle yet very effective trick that makes for believable depth in a painting.