Speaking of Art Blog

The Nut Finder, pastel, 12x9"

Finishing up a challenging piece of artwork is so very rewarding for me, especially when it meets my expectations.  Putting those last little strokes in place and tidying up some edges can be sheer joy.  But sometimes I don’t meet my expectations.  Sometimes a piece falls short of what I had envisioned.  Then I’m left wondering why.

Well, there is something I do as a final step in my art making process that serves as a check and a helpful tool.  It’s a final analysis that I do by studying NOT my artwork itself, but an image of my artwork that has all the color removed.  Yes, that’s right, no color.

What? How on earth can looking at a black & white image of a pastel painting of mine help when I’ve finished a painting using all those luscious colors?  It’s because the real drama does not come from the color in the first place.  The real drama is created in the sharp contrasts between the lights and darks in a painting.  So when I get rid of the color all together, I have an easier time seeing if the sharp contrast is still there.  Color is just frosting on the cake.  But you’ve got to have cake first.  The cake is the light dark structure underneath the frosting.  But it’s not hiding.  It’s right there in the shades of lights, middle tones, and darks of all the colors.  Removing the color using Photoshop simply makes it easier to see that underlying structure.  (You can also use the monochrome tool on your iphone for similar results).

If I remove all the color and my center of interest still stands out with its sharp contrast of the lightest light against the darkest dark, then I have succeeded.  If that is not the case, then I’m not finished.  I call removing the color from my final photo of my artwork the “moment of truth”.  It shows not only when I’ve succeeded but also when I’ve missed the mark.

With this piece, I feel that I have definitely succeeded.  The sharp contrast between the nuthatch’s white breast against the dark background really makes the bird stand out.  I was worried part way through this piece whether I was getting too heavy handed with the bright background colors.  This black & white photo shows that those worries were unfounded.  They may be bright back there, but they are not overpowering the nuthatch.

Mission accomplished…..this time.  Removing the color from my artwork photo is a great teaching tool for me.   Pretty colors are fun to use, but I also need to always keep in mind each one’s light/dark quality.  That makes a big difference when it comes time to do some final analysis of a painting to see if I’ve met my expectations for it.  Gradually over time I’ve gotten better at gauging what I need to do to hit the high drama goal more often, but I still regard this analysis method as a valuable tool.  It is my final step.