Tuesday, August 22, 2006

A Bowl of Cherries

cherries

cherries and blue pattern

I had a bit of quiet time yesterday, so I began sketching this still life from a photo reference in between my end of workday, a class I substituted for, and bedtime. I was able to watercolor everything but the background.

Today, I scanned the incompleted painting and worked with PhotoShop Elements to try alternative backgrounds. My expertise with PhotoShop is limited, but I wanted to try something less stark than a simple color background, so I tried various settings. I like this one best, I think, though I have a few others on my Flickr site.

Which do YOU like best?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey lin, you've been doing some beautiful work lately. it's good to see that you're still at it

picklesandroses.blogspot.com said...

I think I like the white background best. The other is too strong a contrast both in color and value. It is a nice drawing and perhaps if you used a background of a more related color, it might work better. But then I am a total Photoshop dummie...what do I know? Nice subject matter/composition as well.

Anonymous said...

That morning glory on your flickr site is gorgeous! I admire your bravery with photoshop. I'm still so hesitant with it. I think, though, that a washy light blue background done with a brush and paints might also be lovely.

Terri said...

The cherries are luscious Lin. :o) I like the lighter background myself. :o)

Tami said...

Lin, I admire your work with Photoshopping the background,I am a scaredy cat. I like the the blue but I think I would like it better with the different tonal ranges you get with watercolor. The white works really well for me too.

Jana Bouc said...

I like the dark background a lot--it really makes everything else pop! And the cherries are really nice. That's such a good idea to take the time to test it in Photoshop first. I've ruined many a painting by jumping in with a wrong background. What are you teaching? I just looked at the other comments and see that I'm the only one voting for the dark background. Have you ever seen Arleta Pech's work? She uses a lot of dark backgrounds very effectively. Blogger won't let me put in the link but just put the usual http and www in front of this if you want to see her stuff: "arletapech.com/Prints.html"

Teri said...

I;m voting for the dark background because it does make everything pop, however, I do like the other one also. Great job Lin!

Lorraine said...

I like the darker one better although I
also liked the medium blue one on Flicker.
The white one seems a bit stark -- maybe
just needs a bit of wallpaper!!!

Great painting, as are all the others.
Whew, I had a lot of catching up to do
and will comment more on the others when we talk but I am just amazed at all your
drawing and painting efforts.
Hugs,
Lorraine