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Before and After

4K views 24 replies 5 participants last post by  TerryCurley 
#1 ·
Last October I did a really quick painting of a sunset with a girl stretching out her arms as if to embrace it. Well...like I said it was a quickie and not very good. So I decided to take it home from the flea market and rework it. Here is the before and after.
Before:
After:
 
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#5 ·
I like both of them, but I am curios why you changed the girl?

I love the scenery changes, but I like that the girl is more defined in the first one. Obviously I know zilch about oil painting, so it may be some effect that I'm not aware of.

Any hoo, @TerryCurley I'm sure it will sell either way. :kiss:
 
#7 ·
"It's unrealistic to be looking into a low sunset and have the girl be anything but a silhouette. " Unless... she's standing in front of a mural:biggrin:

I loved the colors in the first one but I can see how you felt it wasn't very realistic but that's what we have cameras for right? You told me that and it made me stop and think about what I'm doing. Wait til you see my sailboat.:biggrin:

Anyway, I like the new painting as well and I'm curious to see if it sells now that you've changed it.
 
#9 ·
Thanks guys. I got up this morning and looked at it and had to do some tweaking even before I got coffee. I unevened the shore line and toned down the sun reflection in the water. The weather is stormy out and there is no light coming in my windows so the photo is darker than the painting really is.
 

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#11 · (Edited)
Yeah I've done this in other paintings. Here is one I did in acrylics 3 months after I started painting. The difference is Yours is a Moon reflection as is mine in this painting. The Silhouette painting is a sun reflection. Much more intense. Maybe I did over do it some. I tend to go a little crazy with light...remember the candle painting. I'm not sure I really like the broken stream of light...I mean why would a reflection be broken like that?

I actually do agree with you that the refection in the sunset is not right. I'm disappointed with it.
 

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#15 ·
Yes and that is something I have been doing wrong. I knew that but didn't apply it in this painting....definitely my bad.

Waves would break up the reflections, light on the crest of each wave. I'm pretty sure that it taper as well. Now you've got me thinking and I'll have to go look at some photos online.
True....but if the water is calm there would be no breaking up. My water is extremely calm in the painting.
 
#16 ·
I think it looks epic as is. Agree, the girl would be silhouetted against the sunset, and that was a solid physical law improvement. Then again, Picasso, Dali, and a few others did okay breaking physical laws. ;-)

Ultimately, the judge of our work is the public. I did what I thought was one of the nicest ink works ever this weekend, Arnold Palmer in 1960, complete with flat belly, bulging arms, and trademark cigarette. I posted it on G+, and was greeted with near silence. Then I posted a watercolor slap-together that took me maybe thirty minutes and received effusive praise.

The moral is that you may not be happy with a work, that doesn't stop the world from clamoring for it. And vice versa.
 
#19 ·
Indeed, and it's a much more intelligent place, IMHO. Facebook is clogged with endlessly reposted memes, political rhetoric, and outrageous urban legends. G+ is a different world, more populated by artists, geeks, scientists, teachers, etc. Still a lot of political rhetoric, though, guess there's no escaping that.

The irony is that I get the most accurate feedback at G+, but Facebook is where most of my sales have come from. :)
 
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