Red Roses....at last!

Red Roses was one of those tough ones. It is a larger piece at 24" x 18" which means it took more time simply because of the size. However, when I had completed the painting......the first time....I was not really happy with the results (image on the left). I was happy with the fruit in the bowl and the pitcher....but I felt the roses looked flat and the whole piece just didn't meet my expectations. I knew something was wrong....but wasn't sure what to do. So I called a good friend who is an excellent artist as well as a great teacher. I sent her the image and we brainstormed. Her first reaction was not one I wanted to hear since I had labored over it. She felt my shadow competed with the actual pitcher of roses. She suggested I think of presenting the shadow as on a wall much further back so it wasn't so "in your face". I didn't want to let the shadow go....but as I digested her comments I realized she was right. When I talked about the roses being flat we talked about adding more contrast to the roses themselves....but also the possibility of darkening the background.....hmmmmm.....hadn't thought of that! Maybe I could address both issues with a change of the background. Another thing she pointed out to me was that she was confused about the rose on the table.....but it was because she couldn't see the stem as it was in the shadow of the bowl. That would be an easy fix. I left the painting to work on another piece while I continued to think about how to address the background. I looked on the web for pieces by still life artists I admire to see how they did their backgrounds when there were reds in their setups. Finally, I was ready for the redo! I completely changed the background, spent a lot of time adding more contrast to the roses and ended up changing not only the stem of the rose on the table...but the cloth itself underwent a transition. A lot of work.....but now I am happy!!!