Thursday, May 24, 2012

I struggled a lot with this pastel, and the original version with the two cows just didn't work for me. And then, I thought about having the laundry in the foreground and liked it better.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Aline! Did you post these pastels just to calm me down? Whatever the reason, I've spent the last 10 minutes flipping from one to the other. I simply cannot believe how different--& how much better--trading two cows for a line of laundry made this piece look! The 2nd version, w/ laundry,POPS. All the colors in the whole picture start vibrating once you add the vibrant colors of the clothes.

    Normally, I'd root for cows just on principle, especially cows with blue racing stripes (zoom!). But your final version, w/ laundry, makes this pastel one of your greats, in my book. It's just gorgeous: the gray building & muted greens make it seem as though the blast of the colorful clothes was part of your plan all along.

    And you DID keep a cow with a bright coral rump! Who can resist that?

    BTW, until I began following your blog, Aline, I had no idea how different the 'fauna' of the Eastern US was from that here on the West Coast. It is total Dullsville out here--the animals are all earth tones & not a single giant ant eater anywhere...

    Your work always knocks me out, Aline. You create such beauty! And I am glad my remarks about 'Newburry' did not offend you. Knowing you struggle sometimes, too, is good for a 'much lesser artist' like me to read. It keeps me from giving up when things go south!

    OK-this comment has a happy ending: we're all happy it's over.
    L&K, MaryB

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  2. I LOVE your comments and continue to be grateful you take the time. That in itself is such a compliment. I thought of you and almost said, this is for you, Mary. Truthfully though, I have to submit some pastels to a show and needed a landscape. The struggle was so interesting. I just couldn't like it with the cows and though I was a little fearful to change it, I went for it and was also surprised at the difference.
    I used to live in northern California and am often jealous of the colors I see in the California plein air painters. We have a lot of relentless green here.
    Thank you again for your honesty and time!

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  3. This is wonderful, Aline! Its incredible to see how adding the laundry made such a difference! The orange piece of the laundry makes everything just pop off the canvas...Beautiful piece!!!

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  4. I was quite surprised and confused at the beginning. Without reading what you wrote I looked at the pictures right away and went back and forth for some time. I actually thought that the one with the extra cows is the 2nd version and I was wondering about why you made this change.
    Then (!!!) I read what you wrote!
    The one with the laundry is so much more vibrant and alive. What an ingenious decision to change it like this.

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