Problem backgrounds

Yesterday, I finished putting the shadow and highlight accents on the two dresses. I also started painting the clivia (AKA Kaffir lily). However, the painted version is not quite as neon orange as it appears in this photo. By the way, thank you to everyone who helped identify that flower.

Backgrounds are a problem for me. I typically say, “Backgrounds are boring.” But I’m thinking this image will need something at the bottom. I can just leave these poor little girls floating in space. It seems like they need to be standing on something. And, in the photo, the space between the two girls is very dark. I decided to play around with the idea of placing a dark gray (really a finely textured black and white print) to consider the effect. I am playing around with how the bottom edge might be shaped, too. I’m loosely basing that shape on where the shadows fall in the photo, or at least what I can see of them.

I don’t really like that blob of gray in the middle yet. In the original photo, it is a mass of leaves and shadow. I think I will paint some leaves on the gray background, too, to tie the figure and ground together. Maybe that will help.

I really need to resolve these issues today. I’d like to have the quilt top completely painted and fused before I go to bed tonight. Of course, that’s assuming I’ll actually have time to work on it today. We’ll see…