Frog and lotus

[JLSleather]

3 hours ago, ABHandmade said:

The more I try to achieve realism, the less people love my work 
The problem is that I am more attracted to realism than ornament.

WHAT ?@!    I LOVE this, personally.  I'm in for realism, too... but no doubt you are already aware that you see features and differences that some others don't.  Many will see this and love it, but not really know what made it different from some others with similar subject matter.  They literally don't know what they're seeing.

Part of your "realism" that I really find inspiring is your ability to alter the focus between what is the "subject" and what is the "background" (in quotes because maybe those are words familiar).  I'm not going to pretend to instruct YOU, but for those others here who don't know what I'm talking about.... the way you've used crisp detail in the amphibian and the "main" plant, and deliberately allowed the less prominent features to be less detailed, less "in focus". 

This is not a failure to clearly define the "background".. it's a deliberate and very well done PLAN to showcase a specific object.  Commendable.  Noteworthy.  Inspiring.  I don't know who you feel "loves your work less", but I'm in the camp that loves this.

I used to do insanely detailed stuff (that one of the steam ship on the river was a project... what with all the guy wires 'n' such) but got away a bit because 1) people generally weren't willing to pay what that warranted, and 2)  I didn't much like some of the people I was meeting.  But your work generally reminds me of why I like doing stuff in leather in the first place.

Now, that was certainly long, but I just wanted to be clear that nothing i said (uh.. ever actually) should be taken as saying there's anything about your work I don't like.

 

[Rockoboy]

22 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

there's anything about your work I don't like.

[ABHandmade]

5 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Faaannntastic. I think that the best work will always come from what you  like doing best. I love the frog a lot.

Thank you! 

I really like what I do,  I like to learn, to get some new skills. But to be a judge of own work is very difficult. The only way to get an objective assessment is to show the work to others and hear their opinion. Moreover, this opinion does not necessarily have to be positive. Criticism is no less important than praise.
Worst of all, when the work does not cause at all any reaction from others   This suggests that the chosen direction is wrong. 

Therefore, I am very grateful for the feedback on my work!

4 hours ago, Stewart said:

That is outstanding tooling and painting.the foreground dictates the color of water and that's like chasing the wind.

Thank you, Stewart! 

@hwinbermuda

Thank you, Harry!
I used PVA in my previous work — to imitate water droplets falling from a tiger's whisker. The effect is not bad, but the surface tension force was insufficient to form a drop-shaped form. Now I have found acryl gel gloss, which has a much thicker consistency and is even more transparent on drying than PVA. Perhaps I will try to use it in some work to simulate splashes.

@JLSleather

Jeff, I really appreciate your opinion and are incredibly grateful for your support!

@Rockoboy

Brian, thank you!

Edited June 2, 2019 by ABHandmade