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Madeleine Jacobs 2004 Simplifying the MatterIn light of the difficulty I find many of my students in (let alone myself at times!) concerning how to simplify a painting, I chose three photos in particular that I would love to work with myself.
Let’s throw another monkey wrench into it…what YOU see is not what someone else will see. So you need to look at your photo in an objective light as well as an emotional light and decide what you want to bring to your painting, both technically and emotionally, so that you have not only included your viewer into your dream world, but you’ve also drawn him in and invited him to stay as well as encouraged him to see what you see :) The following photos will explain what I would choose to do under these circumstances. Your task is to take these same photos and tell the group what you would do with these photos. Tell use how you would approach the project, what technique you would use, what medium, what you want to tell your viewer and what you want him to feel. If it is possible, take a photo, one you’ve shown the group and gotten some feedback on, do a quick study in your chosen medium. This will be something like a thumbnail, only with more information in it. Surprisingly, you will be able to include a lot of information and emotion with a minimum of detail. Not only is this a good exercise, but it will be good practice in teaching you how to convey your idea with a minimum of brush strokes, thereby reducing the possibility of overworking a piece or muddying a potentially great painting. (Now if I can only take my own advice...)
I was bowled over by the possibilities in this photo. The serenity and the sense of piece are what I would like to convey more than anything. But there are a few drawbacks to painting it as is.
This is way too dark for me and I would personally feel better about separating the tree line (Orange Rectangle) from the tree reflections on the water (Blue rectangle) There is too much of a sameness in the color here, so a touch of sunset skies to the water and the sky itself (Yellow Oval) would warm the painting up. This photo is very simple already, and few changes need to be made beyond color and value correction in my opinion.
This is such a great photo, isn’t it? But there is an overload of info leaving you to think, “What do I keep in, what do I leave out?” I would like to give the feeling that the viewer is in a secret, private and secluded world all of their own. They are safe and protected. To keep that feeling, it is essential to keep some of the ground cover like the ferns (Purple rectangle), as well as the trees in the background. However, since the ferns are a main focal point, it’s good to give them the bulk of the detail. Now, the trees in the background are important to the sense of seclusion, but to paint each one is certainly not necessary (Yellow Rectangle). But the warm glow from the light IS. In the foreground (blue oval and green oval), there is much debris from leaves, brush, dirt etc. This excessive detail can be reduced dramatically and simplified by painting only areas of varying values rather than detailing each leaf, rock or sticks. The addition of a few complementary colors can also change the atmosphere to suggest warmth and comfort, or a sense of isolation, maybe even suggest dark and hidden things :)
What would you do with the image on the left? The colors have a very summer/autumn feel and it is obvious that the spider web is the main point of interest. But it leaves you with a limited range of colors on your palette. How do you simplify something like this? What colors do you choose? I chose to use a vignette style for this particular piece. First, it reduced the extra amount of ‘information’ in the background while simplifying the situation. Second, it focuses on the spider web itself (the main point of interest) as well as allowing me the minimum of supporting detail in the foreground of yellow golden rod. I would personally choose to subtly add a few more colors to add some variation to the painting as well as adding some visible interest like a spider to the web. There is very little to do with this photo…a soft, subtle background in color, detail on the web only, and secondary detail and additional detail to the foreground. Madeleine Jacobs, 2004
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