modifications

Further development of this painting.

before

after

I think I will leave this one now and move on, 

having learned something in the process.

Thanks for reading, and looking  :)

 

Little Fishes

Feeling a bit low-energy lately.

Taking images of unsatisfactrory paintings and running them through the photoshop, with I think some interesting visual possibilities.

before...

...after

One large change + a few small tweaks.

Well then!  Perhaps then I will not gesso over this one, but rather try re-working it a bit.  :)

 

Homeostasis in the big picture

Since January 1, 2022

-- when one of my studio heaters kaputzed and it was impossible to find another after a very cold christmas, so I removed my acrylics (which must not freeze) into the house, but wanted to work in the studio even though it was cold --

I have been painting with oils, which are less temperature-sensitive.

Solvent-free!

A real learning process for me.

After some sucesses with smaller canvases, I went larger, and have run into problems.  Go figure.  *laughs*

This painting, for example....

... began with a really well composed drawing.

This is not easy for me to do on a large scale, and I was feeling quite good about it.

(it's 38 x 68", or 95 x 175 cm)

Under the darker lines, there are paler lines.

When applying the colour, I decided to follow some of those paler lines.

Yeah, not such a good idea.

Why not?  Well....

It's busy, no focus, no smooth leading of the eye: lack of flow!

The pattern is too evenly spaced: homeostatic conditions!

I lost sight of the big picture, of the elegance and simplicity of the initial drawing.

Defeated by size.

I could not see these problems, and fudged around with ir for a long time.

Nothing worked, things only got worse.

Until....

I read this newsletter

! AHA !

So I ran the image through photoshop.

My pruning was ruthless.

Now I know more-or-less what to do with it in the studio.

Sweet relief.

Thank you Robert Genn, and Photoshop.

And thank you, dear Reader, for reading.

Perhaps some of you will find this post useful.

p.s.: I did eventually find another heater, so I'm no longer painting in the cold.

:)