Backyard Berries - Cropping Dilemma
Above is my most recent completed painting. I'm titling it Backyard Berries - appropriate since the photo that inspired this was taken out behind my home. While I love all of the elements of the completed watercolor, I felt that as a unit the composition may not be working - so much going on can cause the eye to do a little hyperactive skipping around the painting instead of finding a focal point to enjoy. I asked a friend to help me figure out how to crop it, and here are some of the options we came up with.
Top Cropped. This is my least favourite option. The painting seems "squished" to me - though I know that it's partly because I know how it used to look!
Right side cropped. This was the least painful crop to me - it hurts to cut away a piece of a painting that I spent a lot of time on, that had some lovely elements in it. And I think that with the left leaf out of the picture, the right leaf becomes too dominant.
Both sides cropped. Now the berries add too much weight to the base of the painting. The top seems like a lot of empty space.
Final crop. Here I've taken a chunk of both sides and the top of the painting. While I am really sad to lose that big leaf on the right hand side - it is just so cool close up! - I think this is probably the most balanced of all my options. But I haven't quite committed to a crop yet, so if you want to vote for your preferred crop (or no crop at all!), please leave a comment and let me know!