Even Andrew Wyeth didn't always avoid the "sore thumb" I think of as "the big plop." It happens when an image takes up a good portion of a painting, but instead of being integrated into the painting, it just sits and stares.
With apologies to the late Mr. Wyeth, he did that in his painting, Far From Needham.
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Andrew Wyeth Far from Needham Tempera
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Here's my own rendition of the same kind of "sore thumb."
Tip: We can integrate into a painting a large, overpowering subject by finding ways to reduce contrasts of its values, colors, edges and/or textures.
By raising the values on the top left of the pier to equal the sky values, by completely losing the edge of that corner, and pulling sky colors into the pier, I found a way to integrate it into the total painting without having it isolate and end up being a big plop.
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| Upper left corner isolated Upper left corner integrated |
Here's the painting with the pier integrated. The sore thumb is gone.
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Once a King Pastel on Paper
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Happy painting,
Dianne
P. S. Join us on the
Facebook forum where a new challenge appears each Wednesday. Next week's challenge will be about finding ways to avoid the big plop.
