I was so very excited to see this post!!
I am an artist and currently was a student at the university of north florida. [bachelors of art, with a focus in painting and drawing] One thing i miss about school [probably the only thing] was being around other artists and getting my art critiqued.. which is a huge help in the learning and growing process. i would LOVE for you to check out some pieces i have posted on my profile and let me know what you think. [positive and negative.. i can take it ;p ] [profile: BeccaJade]
i have posted three paintings that i completed about two years ago. i was doing a series on my night terrors, that had plaqued me for years.
names [in order shown] :
1.cheif on the hill
2.room full of strangers
3.lord of the flies
Description [of series] :
this 'dream' series meant SO much to me because i had struggled with these horrible night terrors for the better part of three years. all were related, lucid, prophetic dreams, and present in them were three evil/negative spirits [which are in each painting] .
it took me a long time to deal with these dreams.. attempt to understand them, and even stay in them long enough to see the entire sequence [they were very scary!]
however, when i did, i realized that they were very symbolic and that i was being given important messages and many things were being revealed to me [from the past, present, and future] .
but even the understanding and accepting of the dreams was not comforting enough, i had to "get them out of me". and i did this by painting them :)
these are the further explanations of each painting. [the paintings themselves being small representations of elaborate nightmares] . ive somewhat explained each dream. its a lot to read, so if you chose not to i understand. and its not necessary to the critiquing itself.
1.the first painting with the indian was pertaining to situations that were going on in the present time. in the dream the car that me and my friend had been in came to crash off of a bridge, where it landed in a sea of black tar and began sinking fast. my friend, who i could not save, was being pulled down into the tar and dying. i was screaming for help, and looked up and saw across the way a green hill with an Indian chief sitting on it. he was just sitting there and watching. i was mad at first, thinking why is he not helping me, he can see we are in trouble. and then he began laughing and pointing to the sky, and i became very confused and totally entranced with this indian cheif and what he was trying to show me.
2.the second painting is of a dream that was a revelation of past events. although it does not look it, this dream was very very scary. in the dream, i was a little girl in a room where everything was made from wood [the walls, floors, furniture, etc] and surrounding me were many members of my family. in the room was a wasp nest, and wasps began to sting my arms, and try to burrow into my skull. i reached into my hair and pulled out a wasp and presented in to my mother saying "look mommy,i didnt even cry". but she would keep ignoring me. then a figure formed in the crowd and came to me, it was my uncle. he brought me into a dark room where i was stung by more wasps, and then brought back to the main room with everyone else. the room was then suddenly filled with psychedelic little things, like gold fish floating to the ceiling in white bubbles.
3.this painting [at the time] was about future events. in the dream it is "the end of the world" type scenario going on, and a sort of anarchy has taken over. there is hardly any water anywhere and people are starving to death. i am with my two friends. an attractive man offers one friend an ice cube [which she was super excited about] , she accepts it and begins sucking on it. she then dies because the ice cube is poisoned and he eats her. [strangely enough this is the same friend who parishes in the tar in front of the indian cheif] . so my other friend and i decide to take refuge in a library, where we stay, through a series of devastating natural disasters, one being a tsunami [one of my BIGGEST fears / "irrational fears" according to my husband] . we live here just the two of us for the rest of our lives, which was not very long.
this dream was actually a prophetic dream, which [in symbolism] depicted coming events that have taken place in my life sense the dream.
Fourth to last one, called Purple Mountains. When you click on the photo it will bring it up larger and you can see the titles and even skim them with the arrows.
I must say BeccaJade that your use of color is wonderful, the contrast is very strong especially in the last one which brings the feeling out in it even more. The sharpness of the black makes it more intense. I know these were night terrors but the use of a collage like feel and a bit of whimsical fantasy in the background figures allows for the feeling of fear to sink in even more without having to have all the detail added (it comes accross just as well as if it were in stronger detail if not more because it leave it up to the viewer to finish the detail in their own minds which can make it more scary for them because they will see their own terrors in them).
Art is a matter of ones feelings and any feeling can be made into art.
I would suggest (to follow along with the other two ) that you strengthen the Chief's face and head dress a bit, it is almost fading into the background and it is a major part of this peice that sets it apart from the other two. You used a lot of black to make te last one pop and I noticed that it seemed to be a gradual thing through the three paints, with each it progressed and the use of black (or darker colors) to bring the faces out more started to show.
I understand the progression as to show the progression in fear but the first is done with cooler colors as opposed to the other two in the warm colors and the cool colors seem to give it an almost faded look (I just dont want to see it be undervalued in strength of the feeling you were going through due to the cooler/lighter colors that were used.)
Sorry I hope this makes sense, I am a bit tired today from work and I am just hoping that what my mind is expressing what I want to say in an understandable way. lol
(I watch a women with dimentia who still does not want to believe she can not live alone anymore, drive, or even cook for herself. I can be rough somedays. )
Thank you so much for your critique!
I agree with the first two not having as much contrast as the last. this is what i had thought too, and i know certain things can be done to make them "pop".. like you said about the chiefs headdress. i think the reason i havent attempted anything yet is because im scared i will mess it up lol.. but i guess that is the whole thing with art is taking chances. and in art, there really are no mistakes.
purple mountains:
i really like the serenity of this painting. its as if its an early morning and your looking at a lake in front of mountains that still has the fog lingering over it from the night before.
i agree with you that it is hard to know when to just 'stop' on a painting. im very often left with a feeling of incompletion, but over-working a painting might lose certain feelings that it has. my opinion is that this painting could be finished if youre comfortable with it. but it could also be added to alittle bit. nothing with the mountains though! they look complete and perfect, dont touch them. but maybe something to the water to make its presence down there alittle more known. but at the same time, not too much, because that fogged hazy look is perfect surrounding the mountains.
maybe bringing some of the haziness up into the surrounding trees as well? it might make a smoother transition into the contrasting and detail of the mountains.
[its been awhile sense i have critiqued any art] so i hope ive been some kind of help :)
blessed be
hope you have a wonderful wednesday!
Re: Critique Session... By: Lark Moderator / Adept
Post # 10 May 08, 2013
I do various forms of Medieval embroidery. I've posted two pictures.
One is of a reproduction of a portion of the Bayeux Tapestry that I did. The Bayeux Tapestry dates to between 1066-and 1089 and was created by unknown Anglo-Saxon embroiderers, probably from near Cantebury in England. It commemorates the Norman invasion of England. The piece is done on natural linen and embroidered with hand-dyed lambswool in colors authentic to that time period.
The second piece is a piece of Celtic embroidery based on a bit of La-Tene period Celtic art from Britain. It is part of the decoration on a dress that I wear when doing Medieval re-enactment. Since it is meant to be worn and washed in a machine I chose to do it in DMC floss which is color-fast and doesn't mind being tossed in a washing machine.
Lark,
these are beautiful! my mother-in-law embroiders and things like that, so i know how time consuming it can be. these look like you put a great deal of time and heart into them.
i like how the first one is such an ancient style. the details are very nice. i really like how you used the colors and fabrics to do your piece that they would have used in that time period. very nice replica!
and the second's colors are so beautiful.
you are very talented :) [and patient!]
The replica work looks exhausting :) I love the warm colors that they used in that period. The detail is very intricate for a piece like this, I'm amazed at your patience. :)
The other reminds me of an emblem/logo/symbol of some kind. I like how every color of the rainbow was used and the brightness of the colors. All in all very beautiful.
In General for anyone/everyone:
I would just be careful on the color combos, I noticed some were warm tones and some were bright meaning that the tone may not always go well together. Warm, cool, greyed, bright, bold, etc.. can be combined but they must have something to tie them together like all the same color just in the different discriptions above. Color Wheels are great to see what colors will go well with others. General rule of thumb is the colors directly across from each other, the thre right next to each other, and the tri which is two that are seperated only by one color and the color directly across from the one that is seperating the other two.
Of course your canvas is yours and have fun with it, use lots of colors alway experiment and if you do not erase/change it at least once the you are not a real artist ;)
