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One of the challenges of critiquing your own work is seeing it in a new light. We try by looking at it in a mirror, giving it a few days or weeks to renew its energy, turning it upside down to see if it works, and giving it a look at oblique angles to see how it reads. Check lists: composition, values, color temperatures, tangent lines, brushwork and zing qualities.

              One of my favorite ways to look at my work in a new light is by magnifying it – a look at how fresh my brushstrokes and paint mixing are in the piece. I use Photoshop Elements  – the levels menu function is particularly helpful and generally all I need for correction purposes of my photos. Then, sometimes I play.

              Magnification of your work is fun and can be quite eye opening. You can see how your paint mixing practices work – using this process has helped me to mix my colors a bit looser so I can see hints of the mixtures in the strokes. Zooming in on the thicker areas of paint allows you to see if you have created under shadows through the paint application and brushwork. Do you have enough of your ground color showing through, or too much? If you painted on a textured surface, has the paint done what you planned in the open areas? I paint a lot on metal surfaces, aluminum and copper and this magnification process helps me to see if the open metal surfaces blend well enough with the paints and /or allow for the shining surface to glow through. This process can also help you see what abstract qualities you have in your work.

Try it – you will learn some important things about your work and it is a more productive time killer than playing Solitaire – AGAIN!