This is a digitally enhanced version of a painting that I’ve been working on for the last month.  It’s based on some photos of 4th St. in the Mission District of Calgary.  I thought it was a good painting but my wife, Susan, really gave it some focus when she said that it did, in deed,  have some strengths but the sky and in fact the upper half of the painting was quite weak,  I’m not sure why but I have to agree that there is just too much bland sky.  The bottom half of the painting, however, was really strong with a little drama happening between the 2 foreground figures.

My first thought was to physically crop it and that certainly made it a much stronger painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought, however, that I would try to do something with the upper half of the painting to try to  bring it all together.  I was liberated by the thought that if it didn’t work out I would just carry on with the cropping.  This helped free me up as I very quickly threw in some more background buildings.  When I finished and stepped back from the painting I thought, “Wow, that’s it.”  Everything fit together and the viewer’s attention was drawn to the centre of interest ie the figures.

Anyway the conclusion of the story is that I submitted the final version to the Federation Of Canadian Artists gallery in Vancouver and I just found out that it was accepted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say I’m thrilled.