Help me choose the top 5!
I need to select paintings to frame tomorrow and Friday for the show. This is my current take on ranking them. The first 3 (in red text) will be jurried as part of the competition, the top 5 (green text) will be left with the gallery and the remainder come home. What do you think? Is there one missing from the top 3?
I do plan on paitnting sunsets Thursday night, and if good there is time to get into the show, but I’m assuming this is the final group. I’m also painting downtown Estes Park tomorrow, but that’s a “media event”, so I’m basically a circus animal promoting the show for the day 
I really appreciate feedback from you. Don’t be afraid to be critical–I need that too. Thanks!
Lisa Call said,
August 24, 2006 @ 12:55 pm
I’d probably swap 8 with 5. I really like 8 - nice lines and colors are wonderful. But 5 I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around - the sky and the mountains don’t fit together to me. It doesn’t feel like a colorado sky - can’t put my finger on it but your other clouds in 1,3,9, 10 capture the mountains better in my opinion. I do like the mountains and trees in 5 - I just think the sky needs more fiddling.
Great selection of work for the week.
John Haynes said,
August 24, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
Hi Ed,
Nice work this week. I think I agree with your ordering — #1 is definitely my favorite. I really like this painting! (Number 2 also has a very nice mood to it as well.) My one comment is that the light of the trees in #3, #7, and #8 seems like it wants to be a little warmer to me.
Best of luck with the show!
janette jones said,
August 24, 2006 @ 3:25 pm
What a great group of paintings! I like #2 the best because of the unusal color, close values and feeling of “place”. It’s working for me! I also really like #7…great shapes, bold design, bright color! #1 is beautiful but maybe more ordinary in design and color and wouldn’t stand out as much?
Good Luck!!!
Kris Shanks said,
August 25, 2006 @ 2:13 am
I think I agree with your top three, although the one thing that bugs me is how similar the compositions are: sky, mountain, water in front, most of the angled lines pointing towards the middle of the canvas. The more I look at them, the more I’d be inclined to swap #3 for #4, mostly because the bright yellow green trees in #3 don’t work very well for me, and I love the moodiness of #4. I really like the boldness of #7 - perhaps it could be put into the mix somewhere. Love the color combinations in #2!
jeff hayes said,
August 25, 2006 @ 2:57 am
Personally, I’d raise #7 up the list. It may lack the “finished” quality of some of the other paintings, but vitality of the light and the boldness of the forms really appeal to me.
-Jeff
Bart Westgeest said,
August 25, 2006 @ 11:23 am
I think, ofcourse judging from the paintings as they appear on my screen, I would consider swapping either nr 7 or 8 with nr. 5 - I might take nr 8.
Good Luck!
Shanti Marie said,
August 25, 2006 @ 6:04 pm
I like #1 and # 3e the best. Both for composition and color.
Darla Dixon said,
August 26, 2006 @ 11:12 am
Can you have a top 4 instead of top 3?
I really like number 6, it is vibrant and it would do great I think.
But I can’t see removing any of your current top 3, unless you removed #2 just because it’s not as much in ‘theme’ with 1, 3, and 6.
But I love Painting 2 because of the mood and the clouds.
Oh well, maybe just close your eyes and pick 3, they’re all good!
Ron McKinney said,
May 23, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
#3, #2, and #10 move me the most. If I could touch up #3, it would be to bring more light into the forest between a few tree trunks; this would also model the slope, in my opinion.
I admire your work. But more than that, I love the region. The Big Thompson River was, prior to the flood in the 70s, one of my favorite chunks of the Rockies. You have captured its essence. I’m currently writing a tale about the winter my wife and I spent in a cold water cabin that was perched on an outcropping of granite several hundred feet above the bank of the river. It was challenging, to say the least, but what a view.
Good luck with your show.
Ron aka OldMack