When Three Marks Make a Difference

'The Welcoming Committee'          6x11        pastel     ©Karen Margulis
available $145

Three little marks. That's all it needed. The results were clear. The painting was stronger and it was all due to the subtle addition of three little marks. Before I explain what I am talking about have look at the finished painting at the top of the page and the painting below. 

Can you spot the change I made?

Before the change

I actually thought I was done with the painting. I took a photo and posted it to my blog all ready to write a post about using Uart 280 paper. But when I looked at the painting on the computer monitor it jumped out at me. I wasn't finished after all! So back to the easel I went.

I only allowed myself three marks. I needed to fix the problem but I didn't want to get too fussy and ruin the freshness of the rest of the painting. By limiting myself to three marks I stayed in control of my repairs! It is a good practice when you are at the end of a painting to only allow three marks at a time and then stepping back. Three marks, step back. Three more marks, step back.

Did you see what I fixed? If you said I changed the large poppy on the left side you are correct. When I looked at the painting the first thing my eye went to was this large red flower that was going off the page on the bottom left. It wasn't so bad that it went off the page. The problem was that it was too bright and vibrant all the way to the edge of the paper. This intense area tends to pull the eye right to it and then off the page. It is a case of too much information too close to the edge of the painting.

 I needed to keep the viewer in the painting. This is where the three marks came in. I used a couple of green pastel and made three marks to subtly soften and hide the flower. Now I see the flower but I can also move past it and enjoy the rest of the painting.