I have not reported in on that last painting start as you might have noticed if you read the last post. WHY, you ask??
Well, it is because nothing is working. I say nothing. On the first go round I liked that rhythm of the brush strokes. That is almost the only thing I liked if I want to be real.
I was challenging myself to do something different from what I usually do. But, what the heck!
This challenge is not working for me at all. First of all, I do not like using paint already mixed up without having a lot of other paint there to make some variation as I paint. I cannot really get what I want for edges if I do this “paint one color at a time stuff. EDGES are so important.
The colors could be okay. This is something I can say after mixing colors and jotting down what those mixtures contain. I don’t know that I love them, but I can change up if I need to.
I still like the rhythm of the beginning strokes of the painting. What I don’t like is the filling in of all that white space because I have found that having a color ground is a great way to unify a painting without worrying about little white flecks here and there. (But that was a part of the challenge to myself.)
SO, what am I going to do after fighting this all week?
I am going to attack it like I do all paintings that turned ugly. BUT that will be on Monday because I am going to see great art in Dallas with my daughter. We sign up for the CADD tours every couple of months and see a lot of great art at galleries and collections that we would would never have seen in galleries.
OKAY.. the ugly. If you don’t think it’s ugly but you have not seen it up close. Up close and surface is just as important at the distance view.
PLEASE, do let me know what you think. It might not make a bit a difference in what I do, but who knows?
Hi Cheryl, I know that offering comments on someone’s work is never a good approach for either the advice giver or the receiver, but I have never been known for my diplomacy! I think you are off to a great start, but having just completed a diptych of two 40×40 panels myself, I know it’s a huge undertaking. My one comment is that since you are already drawing attention to the center of your diptych because of the vertical line connecting the two central edges, also having a prominent central image draws additional attention to it. That makes the center so big a component of the painting that the eye does not travel around to see those beautiful softer colors and marks you have made with the pale grey, pink and off-white. Good luck with this and keep at it! I know you will make a beauty!
Hi Nancy… Thanks so much for the comments. No need to talk diplomacy. Yes, there certainly is an emphasis on the center. It was on purpose since I was putting myself through the mill on this one. My aim is to work it out as I go along. That is a thought though that there are two elements of emphasis there. I work with diptychs a lot because I can make a large painting but still be able to haul or ship it around more easily.I can’t remember if you ever work with acrylics but one draw back is that when you go back in to re-work something, you have to probably re-work the whole painting so the strokes and surface with have continuity. I will just have to see how it goes. There may be a lot of layers on this one. LOL. See you in May at the conference.