Thankfully there is a bit of blue to offset the analogous colors.
“Kathleen” watercolor portrait painted in 1980 from a reference photo taken on a trip to New York City in 1969
I continue to be fascinated with the abstractions created by reflections in store windows. I love the way that the reflected shapes work with the objects on display. This painting is mostly neutrals, set off by the pink neon sign and the blue scarf. A few more cool colors would have added a greater illusion of depth to the painting. This is one of the paintings that has survived the sorting and dumping of older work. It still hangs on my wall. It reminds me of the wonderful adventures Kathleen and I had as teenagers exploring New York City with my camera. At night I transformed my mother’s kitchen into a darkroom. I had fallen in love with black and white photography. Kathleen was a cooperative model to add human interest to architectural abstractions and my obsession with rows of objects whether they be dump trucks or loaves of bread.
it may be my monitor… what begins to pop for me is the purple in her hat area with all that yellow and golden orange.
Hmmmmm. The purple on the hat doesn’t pop either in the original painting or on my monitor. Monitor settings and variations in how the digital files are read will always be a challenge when we are exchanging our images with one another online. I don’t know if there is anything to do about that. Any suggestions?
aloha Chris. yeah, it could easily be the way my monitor is set.
…no, i dont think you should do anything about it on your end, other than to adjust your monitor for the way you see it – your conditions, lighting etc.
there are some “standardized” settings – but to me each bit of hardware, company, software and item seem to have their own standard. may be there is a more universal setting – and i just dont know it. i’m not a technology geek – i just create in my little corner of it.
so, yeah, i understand how different an image on the net and/or each monitor can be from the actual work. and yes, it’s a good thing to take into consideration when viewing/showing work. the actual work is likely to be different. how much different is variable.
we can even enhance our work if we want to – i try not to do that too much but then when i try to make it accurate for my monitor and situation… yeah, it’s not easy and it’s never going to be the same across the net world of monitors…
how we get our images into the computer also changes everything.
so… bottom line for me is, set you monitor for your situation and try to be reasonable on tweaks.
..and of course keep it in mind when viewing or showing visuals. i think most people are aware of all of this to some degree – especially visual people.
working in a photo lab i found that people often like a photo the way they first see it and get used to it even within a few minutes of seeing it. if it’s a little too blue or not enough blue etc. and i adjusted for a more balance image they often times preferred the first way it was printed. …unless it is really significantly off…
we are curious creatures, yes?
sometimes you can actually find solutions to a work, by altering settings in photo editing ware and then reworking your actual painting in that direction. . . another technological tool we now have access to.. fun? yeah, sometimes. as long as i dont get carried away on it or locked into doing it that way all the time.
You’re welcome!
Chris, I love learning about the history and experiences of my fellow artists and bloggers. Your analysis is also very helpful. I really look at your work and try to learn from your critiques. Thank you!