The work on the easel was once a finished work that looked very different from what you see now. The original image needed more strength so I scumbled over the entire top half of the canvas with arbitrary colors to make a new stand of trees, letting the original red background show through in places. It became a much stronger image instantly but not a very believable one.
Then a wonderful thing happened. The same thing is happening to the cloud canvas on the floor. left. I wasn't sure what to do next with these works but I left them out for viewing. When I into the studio fresh in the mornings I was surprised to see that the paintings had improved. They were painting themselves! I simply put a little distance between my expectations and the works as they actually are. Now I can better decide what is good about the work and what needs more attention.
I hope you have a number of good works busily painting themselves as well !
Ho, Ken, go!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ken! This is such an important part of painting that I think many artists forget about. Letting them sit when you know you need to do so. They do work on themselves... our fresh eyes are so important to a piece of art.
ReplyDeleteIt really would have been fun to see the previous version and then how this one looks to see what the improvement was. I thoroughly enjoy looking at my photos and seeing the progression when this type of thing happens ... the before and after!