Definition, How the art reads, Final Flourish

Desert 1- Route 66 - Digital Painting 2005

From the last version to the finished version are some fairly clear changes which help pull the piece together.

I added rocks/stones to the precipice of road to make it read a little better. I also gave the mesa more solidity giving it more texture and definition. Creating a 2-dimensional piece from 3-dimensional world is about creating illusion. 

Though my work is not a particularly realistic approach to painting, it still requires the interpretive look of whether something reads the way I hope it will.

As in listening, any sort of seeing, any sort of interpreting - one cannot imagine all the ways someone might look at something. Noted in the Daily Yomiuri Online(The Natural World of Olafur Eliasson - no longer available):  "Contemplating a work of art, we each bring to it our own memories and experiences, creating a mental image that is uniquely our own." 

With that said, it is our job to try to be clear - just as it is our job to try to understand all the possibilities.

The final thing I did to the piece was tint it a color which gives it more of the mood I was looking for and additionally pulls the piece together like a varnish might.  It is kind of a final hurrah - a bit like an unveiling - or unwaxing a batik - a final coat making it just that much better.

See Also

• Encylopedia of Educational Technology - Setting the Mood with Color
  A Look at the colors and how they affect or create mood
• Color of Mood Can Be Measured
  Tracking moods using color provides planning map - in the news
• Batik - Wikipedia - Free Encyclopedia
  Defined/explained quickly and to the point