In my earlier post I showed a tracing of the darks in the picture I am working on, “Sitting on a Curb.” For comparison, here it is again:
The next step was to make a negative of this tracing:
As you can see, I have modified some of the shapes. Seeing them in a different format, (here the negative image) helped to point out some needed changes. So now it is evaluation time. What questions do I need to consider?
Are the shapes recognizable and will they be interpreted to mean what I am trying to say?
Are the shapes interesting and entertaining? Do they interlock with each other?
Is there a dominance of either light values or dark values?
I think the shapes are fine, but I am concerned about the dominance. I think the lights and darks are about equal, so I am going to make the background grass become all a dark shape, with mid-values for texture.
Now the challenge is to apply this to the painting!
