POINT OF VIEW

posterized photo of flowers that I also painted for Watercolor Month

Turn it upside down.

Narrow your focus. Get closer.

Walk around to find a different angle.

Don't be satisfied with your first impression. Make more sketches.

Paint in the morning or evening to take advantage of the Golden Hour.

Paint in shades of grey to capture the values.

These are all phrases I heard from art instructors who encouraged their students to move beyond their ordinary point of view. During a critique, other people often liked my work much better when it was upside down. (My left-handedness showing through?)

Version A

I was reminded of these exercises about point of view when my husband and I went to dinner one night at a local restaurant where we ran into a friend. He talked with us about cycling. I wondered if I had seen him on the Iron Horse Trail in town.

Version B  Which do you like better?

                 

I walk the Trail frequently. The 8-foot trail is a busy one with walkers, runners, dog walkers, families on bikes, and cyclists. The cyclists avoid the busy main street of our town by using the trail. I cringe each time cyclists flash by me silently and without slowing down as they close in on walkers like me.

I have several times stopped to talk with a friend that I met on my walk. We move over to the side. A couple of times, as I started walking again, I stepped out to the center, not seeing or hearing the cyclist on my blind side, and just missing a collision with the rider. My first instinct is to blame the cyclist, but I also wasn't paying enough attention.

Our friend we encountered at the restaurant is a cyclist who rides the Trail too. He complained about the dog walkers who let out the leads for their dogs right in front of him, about kids (and me) who jump out in front of him without looking in his direction, about walkers who stop suddenly, without giving him time to brake. His first instinct is to blame the walkers.

I still lean towards my version of the people on the Trail, but I realize our friend comes from a different place. All a matter of point of view, isn't it?

Three more sketches for World Watercolor Month.

   

                 

                   I like the posterized version of these flowers better, but I tried another sketch the next day.

Second version. I used reds for the shadows in the flowers instead of blue and purple.