I finished "Pass Through" and pinned it to the wall. Immediately I noticed a problem. Despite the care taken with composition the picture looked bland. I took a photo and opened it up in Photo Impact. Using the Burn-in Tool, I put in a foreground shadow, a shadow under the front gable siding and darkened the door. Immediately the picture just "popped". The illusion of sunshine was all that was needed to make the picture more attractive. Now I have to take it down and make the changes.
I have also started an oil pastel drawing. The subject in the old feed mill in Bangor, WI. Many photographs on this building have been taken by us over the past three decades. The building is abandoned but is magnificantly sited at the edge of a hill. Recently the town put a fence around it to keep people out (cheaper than tearing it down). But before that happened we walked around taking lots of close-ups for future drawings.
