FLORAL BLUES
Watercolor - 11x15
It is important to have a variety of edges in any painting. Edges refer to where one shape ends and another one begins. Shapes can be separate objects or areas of color/shading within an object. One of the most common mistakes made in painting is to create sharp, hard, defined edges between everything as if we were filling in a coloring book.
The focal point is first established with your composition but then you should use edges to guide the viewer's eye through the painting to the center of interest. This can be done by using a limited number of crisp, hard edges around the focal point while everything else is painted with a little softer, blended or even invisible edges.
Notice in Floral Blues that I used the most defined and hard edges around the central blooms to create the focal point and painted softer edges in the flowers and background as I moved toward the edges of the paper. Within the larger flowers I used a combination of hard and soft edges and for the leaves I kept the transition of the greens very soft while using more defined edges for the veins.
The Creative Monday Challenge this week is to be aware of the type of edges that you are using in your artwork and to use a variety of hard, soft and in between edges throughout your painting to create a more interesting and varied composition.
If you are new to Creative Monday I would love to have you join us. You can read more about it and get info on joining the free Facebook Group here.
