I gave a class assignment this week to paint this:

So I then did this:

And this:

I cut out the shapes in order to see them as themselves, independent of the rest of the image. Especially the leaves, which are easily put into a background space thinking they are they only there in service to the flower. By separating out the flower I wanted the students to see the leaves as a distinct part of the image. Their shapes, the way they create space/depth as they overlap, and the varieties of green stand out better without the flower.

The flower dominates the image, mostly because it is so red against all the green, but also subject-wise. We look at the flower first

I started by asking the students to begin with the leaves without the flower. The interesting thing to me was how in those paintings the flower really looked pasted on, ala Andy Warhol. I think of the assignment as a success because it did force the painters to look harder at the green leaves than they might have otherwise.