Entangled in Red

I think Richard Schmid is right when he cautions about overworking a painting. I probably should have left this painting the way it was a few versions ago. After hearing feedback that my first version was better, I tried to recreate the earlier look. I defined where the table met the wall and loosened up the painting of the ribbon. But after more feedback, I decided to get rid of that harsh line of the table. This painting does look better in person. Sometimes the camera makes a painting look better because it adds contrast and saturation, but in this case, it really flattens out the red color. Despite the way the painting looks on screen, in person the ribbon is painted with clean, loose brush strokes that almost jump out at you.

I don’t want to overwork this. In the painting you can see more brush strokes and color variation than in the photo. The photo flattened the tones/colors in the ribbon quite a bit. I hope to post a better photo at some point.

I wanted to start a still life tonight; while I was rummaging through an old box looking for something to paint, I found this angel figurine which was given to me as a gift when I was in high school. For just a nondescript wooden object I always feel like it has a strong presence. I immediately felt ready to paint!

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