Compositional Rescue
The compositional flaw that I am referring to is the emptiness behind the man on the left hand side of the canvas. The straight line of the wall points directly out of picture and leaves a void. I discovered the problem by employing a simple trick that I have found invaluable over the years; I looked at the painting in a mirror. I have a 8 X 10 inch mirror, covered with finger prints of paint in my studio. I guess that when I look so intensely at a painting for so long, I start to see it the way I want to see it instead of how it actually is. The flip of the mirror jars me out of that illusion and I suddenly see the painting in a different light. Now that I am working with Photoshop, I also can flip a digital image of the painting horizontally and create the same jarring effect.
I’ve been working with Photoshop all morning trying to find the best solution. The images below are, first, the canvas as it is right now, second, that image flipped horizontally, and third, the painting with the changes that I made in Photoshop. Now that I feel good about where I am headed, I just need to paint the changes.
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