Saturday, February 2, 2008

Onion #5

Onion #5
2/1. Onion #5, oil on linen panel, 4x4 in. SOLD

I'm starting to understand more the idea of limiting the value range, at least in the way that it affects the shadow area - leaving the shadow mass soft, still anchoring the object without having to put the darkest darks there. Instead, the darkest note is in the area with the most interest. I luckily got the right colors down real fast and this turned out to be only a little more than an hour long.

5 comments:

Paul Schmid said...

A beaut, Dan. Love the balance of warms and cools.

My Life Drawing instructor, Bill Parks, used to say: "Periodically reinforce your center of interest."

He also urged us to ask ourselves: "What have I done to make it a center of interest?"

Solid advice I'm still trying to follow.

Carolyn Hietala said...

Ditto: Definitely an effective use of color... nice painting ;0)

Jason Waskey said...

Dan, I think the approach of the soft shadow mass has really lightened the feel of the whole painting. And you did a great job on the color.

As a side note, my eye is drawn to the dark spot-- almost to distraction. I'd love to see it; a) remain the darkest spot, but lightened a bit, or b) and additional dark added at the back to help balance.

A minor point, thought I'd mention it though.

I really like this!

Dan P. Carr said...

Thanks for the comments! I did consider that, Jason (afterwards) - arrgh.

Jason Waskey said...

...arrived, and looks great! Thanks Dan,

Cheers,

jason