Poppy Platter

 

Okay, lunch is served!  As I said in my previous post, this isn't the most favorite thing I've ever made but I'm realtively happy with it.  One thing I try to remember comes from the book titled Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland.  One of their gems of advice is to keep making art all the time.  Some of it will be terrible, some just average and a few will be outstanding.  This is true of artists regardless of experience.  However, they say the more art you make, the more outstanding pieces you will produce.  It's great, encouraging advice.  Even if something turns out differently than what I envisioned, I always learn something just from the doing of it.

So, what did I learn from this piece?  First of all, I should have made it larger.  It's only 29" by 21".  I attempted to show depth by making the veins in the petal get closer together as they converged in the center.  This piece might be too small to really get that effect.  I think more of a gradated color effect in the black petal markings would have helped create depth as well.  Last of all, the green portion of the center should be oriented at a different angle or have more shading to it as well.   However, I also need to remember I just might be standing too close to the forest and most people will think this looks just fine simply because they can't see what was originally in my head.  Probably a good thing after all!