Cropping--Surprise! Surprise!

In watercolor class today we spent the first part of class discussing the details of our first exhibition and reception. The class is so responsive to helping and all want to have a good show. I helped some folks decide which paintings to have framed and others to determine mat colors and sizes. Nearly everyone worked on current paintings, so we had a critique, as usual, at the end of class. I spoke briefly about how no painting is really a failure. You can keep working on it to see what new techniques you can learn. And you can also find interesting compositions within the painting that might be worth developing, just by sliding small mats around the picture and cropping to isolate little compositions. We found several lovely landscapes in one artist's throw-away painting. So don't give up on your pieces just because they haven't measured up to your original vision. Somewhere in that composition there might be a little gem.