The Pond   

Tom's Comments:  

A picture with a pond and a girl riding on the pond in a sail boat. A dog on the right side, a airplane in the sky with the sun and some flowers and dirt along with grass in the foreground. The elements are enticing. Maybe we could live with them for a very long time. I think that the color should be changed slightly to make the best use of the forms. The sky blue needs to be varied and a little more detail down towards the horizon. The water also needs to be varied with more detail in the far away part of the pond, that means larger detail in the foreground. The sun is always a hard thing to paint. Maybe it needs a little more detail also. These colors must be changed to be harmonious. It is hard to figure color. The red of the surf girl should be retained and the colors around it should be adapted to assist her. That means the green is redder, the blue more purple.

  

The Mirror     

A girl standing at a full length mirror.  

Tom's Comments:

Too much space around it? We have to think, can I live with this. What does she mean? The arrangement is good. Her red pants could be more green. The background needs to have some atmosphere by making it more blue and lighter.

 

 

 

 

The Wedding   

Tom's Comments:  

Can I live with this for a long time? If the features were exaggerated you could make a cartoon out of it. maybe that would be the best use of clip art. Maybe you should place a caption under it that makes it funny or meaningful.

  

The Chapel   

Tom's Comments:  

It is hard to get around the wavy nature of the border. I suppose it is fine if it is against the same colored background. The yellow frame needs more variation. Maybe shadow. But it does have a pleasing shape. The overall drawing needs more focus. What you have is a big yellow house and what you want is a married couple.

  

Lion King

Tom's Comments:

The lion cub painting took me by surprise. I started to learn how Patty paints by using a coloring book. I wanted her to use the coloring book to her advantage. Maybe make the images into something of herself by adding words.

 

Cowgirl  

Tom's Comments:

The cowgirl was also a shock. So many things working at cross currents. I have a hard time with the border. Maybe the best thing to do would be to make all the colors very similar.  

 

 

Little Girl In Field  

Tom's Comments:

Now in this work I started to really see what Patty could do with her art and coloring book. She combined them. There is some real art here. I guess the next thing is to make sure that the image is a good reflection of the artists. It is he or she that knows when they are successful

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Funworld  

Tom's Comments:

This is a real movement towards making a real art out of combining coloring book images and watercolor. I enjoy the coloring book images. It is a aspect of art that is not done in the professional world and maybe should be. The use of the watercolor background is also exceptionally done. But the reason I have for liking these images is not a good reason for anyone to like them. I am excited about them. Now we need to format them for showing.  

 

 

Me With The Animals  

11" x 8.5, Watercolor on paper, Winter 1999,  

 

Tom's Comments:  

The animals need to be organized in the drawing better. They seemed to be at opposite ends. They need to stand out. The background should swoop to the figures actions. As a conclusion:  

As a conclusion: I need to know more about the work. You will have to explain the work and your thinking in doing it when you send it to me. A good story attached will help you think about what you have done. Do you like it? Do you think it is successful? What did you want to do? Who and what was your influences? If you worked from something what did you work from? Almost anything can go, so just do it.  

It is good to use something to go by on your first attempts. I use a popular master work to copy when I want to start something new. The more I work the more I realize they are popular because they happened to have what the masses wanted at the time but in time things change meaning anything can have it day. How to work within a format of no controls is few hard. What do you use for a solid base? Use reality and its delicate interface with human interest and sensibilities as your guide and you will never go wrong.  

Patty has made tremendous improvement going from straight coloring book images to a combination of watercolor washes for the background and coloring book figures and additional figures made from Claris Works. Patty will have to explain the work and her thinking in doing it. A good story attached will help you think about what you have done. Especially the important basic facts. Size, date, medium and price should also be included. Patty should also answer other questions like: Do you like it? Do you think it is successful? What did you want to do? Who and what were your influences? If you worked from something what did you work from? All this is very hard for Patty, she uses a head stick to draw and communicate, sees poorly but listens extremely well.