Week 5 Wrapup

And there goes another week!

All my work has been submitted. All my feedback is in. And speaking of feedback, my instructor Marcia (read about her here) is graciously allowing me to quote her! Here are her comments on this past week's work:

Exercise 5.1: Complete a Painting, Discover Your Preference
(The all at once approach.)

My gosh, don't you feel you've come a long way since you started? So much about this piece that's working well. First, you've chosen a challenging subject. Excellent composition. True color, really deep rich purples, especially in the round petals. I especially like the flower bud -- soft green, with that hope of purple peeping through. Very nicely done. Honestly John, you could put a nice mat around this one!

My only suggestion is that there is something about the three pointy petals -- oh, I should remember the term for those! -- that feels just a tiny bit flat, not quite true. Do they appear flat, or is it my screen? Really and truly, it could be my screen. Somehow it feels as if you've captured the depth in the round petals, and the other three feel straighter.

And it could be, that's exactly what they're supposed to do!


Exercise 5.2: Discovering Your Preference, Continued
(The element by element approach.)

OK, so what did you think? In my view, this is the much more interesting painting. It fairly leaps off the page in three dimensions, it feels very true, with loads of depth. I've lost that sense of flatness that I expressed in the first piece. Just notice the way in which each piece has the hint of deeper color that makes it pop out at you. What do you think? I should check your blog...


Exercise 5.3: Painting Background

What a difference a few lines make, John! You've handled this exercise very creatively.

I have to admit that I held my breath a bit before opening it. I tend to use a lot of dark, bold backgrounds, but I sure wouldn't have for this orchid. I was worried you would go dark as you did the callas. Wise choice! This adds both a beautiful background, and also enhances overall the composition. Are you going to frame it??