Thursday, September 22, 2011

Comedy Tragedy

I've had the beginnings of this piece in a drawer for a few weeks. I painted this Roman ruins face awhile back, but people responded that it looked scary. I love the face and the background of the photo I'm working from. A friend took the photo while in Turkey. It was laying on the ground with other remains of Roman grandeur. I decided to take away the scary and add a second face to create the dramatic masks theme. I'm also using a very different color pallet.

I really enjoyed creating collage paper using a stamp I made in a previous workshop. The collage solved the problems I created by putting an opaque acrylic blue on this transparent watercolor. It just deadened the painting. The blue collage brought back life to the opaque passages.

 
Posted by Picasa

Comedy Tragedy, 22"x30"

Usually I add some black passages to this type of collage piece. Before making it permanent, I taped on some black pieces of construction paper to help me decide if the black adds anything. What do you think? Black or no black?

Posted by Picasa
Comedy Tragedy, 22"x30" (with black accents)

5 comments:

Lorraine said...

Love the black accents! It brightens the entire picture and gives it a "lighter" feel.

Anonymous said...

Black...YES. The black takes your painting over the line for drama. I like the value contrast and the drama the black adds. Ordinarily I would not care for the blacks all being the same size but in this case the painting is about smaller shapes. Very interesting painting.



Linda

Margaret Godfrey said...

Thanks, Linda. This painting is not a crowd pleaser, but I've learned a lot.

Margaret

Linda said...

I always enjoy your unique approach. Wishing you peace as you go through this time of transition with your mom. Glad you had a great summer with family. Looking forward to seeing you at Sunriver.
Linda Rothchild Ollis

Anonymous said...

My vote is YES for the black. Gives it more 'drama' and depth.
Marline