Saturday, January 17, 2009

"Huddled"



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One of the biggest tools I've learned (through experience) for making edges more interesting, is to go past the edges with the first color I put down, and redefine them afterwards, dragging the second color alongside and slightly overlapping the first. I said this to my husband recently and he said "what makes an edge interesting?" Good point. So I guess when I first started painting, all my edges were hard, or crisp. I would paint right up to an edge from one side, and again from the other, with sometimes a little space inbetween that would bug me. Now I choose when to have hard or soft edges. What I get depends on how loaded my brush is with paint, how much I overlap the stroke, what the two colors are on either side of the edge, etc. The more I paint the more I find I can control the edges and it's not so much up to chance.

8 comments:

Carolina said...

Interesting tip. I wonder if that could apply to colored pencils as well...?
I have loved to paint all my life, but one reason over another took me away from it, and now, on my late thirties, I'm starting again, with CPs. And I'm using your blog for inspiration and as a learning tool. I like your work very much, the way you have achieved your own personal and distinct style. Congratulations from this part of the world!

Steven P. Goodman said...

I totally agree about edges. They are one of the most important elements in a painting, something beginners don't often realize. One of my favorite painters, Charles Reid, emphasizes the importance of lost and found edges and suggests that you should squint and then combine the shapes that merge together. Thanks for your daily insights.

Jacki Newell said...

That's one of the many things i enjoy so much on your work-the very interesting edges. Thanks so much for sharing these tips with us.

Becca said...

Great edges in this piece. Especially the shadow on the back vase. I also love the juicy bounced orange onto the polka-dot cup.

Atul Pande said...

Nice piece. If you work in watercolor, of course, you have to pay great attention to edges since many of the techniques (e.g. wet in wet) do not allow precise control over the medium. Watercolorists have the benefit though of being able to change edges even after a painting is finished by just using a bit of water to soften the edges that need to be lost.

Edcooper_art said...

If you search online, you can find some notes on painting by John Singer Sargent!....He says a similar thing about edges!.....still knowing it and doing it are different things...take a bit of guts at first to destroy those edges....great stuff!

Jo Castillo said...

Beautiful painting and great tips.

Nancy B. Hartley said...

Carol, I've learned so much from you blog! Thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts and painting ideas! I love what you said about painting edges!