Cropping
Sometimes a painting needs cropping to make it work. I had started this piece on a 16"x20" mounted board with a composition that ended up not being successful. I loved some parts of the painting but overall the composition just wasn't dynamic enough. So I took out the final editing tool in the artist's toolbox: the crop.
When I first decided to crop this piece I had decided on a 12"x12" crop that included the far left section of the piece.
But I learned a valuable lesson when I turned the piece over, drew the 12"x12" section on the back I wanted to cut and did the deed. When I turned it over I had cut the WRONG SECTION. I foolishly didn't take into account that I had flipped the painting over and so the opposite side would need to be cropped. So, always check twice and cut once!
I was determined to save something out of this piece, so I cropped again to a 12"x9". It wasn't as dynamic as the original crop I had in mind, but it still works.
Here's a photo of the original 16"x20" painting prior to cropping.
