Cropping to Fit
"Farmed Red Rows" 7x8" Pastel on sanded paper
After this past summer's tragedy, the desire to clear away and simplify my life has made it's way into my studio. I've cleared out the garage, my son's room has been organized (along with tossing a few old toys), and I painted the back side of the house. Projects that sat on my list for some time. In the studio the shelves are hung, I've wiped away the pastel dust, the art is off the floor, and now I am going through a pile of art that developed over the past 4 years. These pieces never quite made it to a frame, for some reason they all had something that didn't quite "sing" to me. There is a great way to remedy this dilemma, and that is by re-cropping the work. Here is one that was bothering me quite a bit, but now that I have cut the painting practically in 2, it looks so much better. The composition was not holding it together and now after cropping it seems to work a bit better. I cropped the rest of the pile of art (all are plein air) and here are some of them below. If you have a painting that just feels a little "off", try cropping it!
"Hillside View" 7.5x7" Pastel on sanded paper Sold
"Fanno Creek" 6x9" Pastel on sanded paper Sold
"Cove at Lopez Is." 9.5x8.5" Pastel on sanded paper Sold
"Plum Reflections" 9x6" Pastel on sanded paper Sold
Labels: art, cropping, pastels, recycling artwork
posted by Brenda Boylan at
September 26, 2009
5 Comments:
great advice, Brenda...I have cropped a few oil paintings! (I can do that if I painted on canvas panel).
These are beautiful!
Really? Canvas panels allow you to crop without damaging the work? I guess the frame edges would cover that, huh?
Some of these cropped paintings gave me 2 out of one. Somehow they were better separated...like siamese twin paintings! LOL!
great blog keep up the good work
Wonderful plein air works Brenda! Thanks for showing how the 'croperations' helped them :-) I wonder if we try to put too much in our PA's because there's so much right in front of us. I use a view finder, do thumbnails and still usually have to crop!
Hi Donna,
Yup, I think you nailed it on the head. There is so much out there. I have a little viewfinder now, so my work is getting more focused...hopefully! These definitely made more sense and simplified. Now I've got odd shaped work...ugh!
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