While I was getting my studio up to showing order (Open studio coming soon!!), I found several paintings that I had painted some time ago but then set them aside because they weren’t quite finished. They just needed a few finishing touches, but I wasn’t ready to make them.
Path Forward, when I painted it, was about the bright green against a deep crimson. It’s just purely a celebration of color. Luckily my vision had been strong enough when I started this painting, that when I came across is last week I could easily see what the vision had been, and how to put on those last touches.
I had been, for several years, in the habit of writing down what it was that I wanted to convey in a painting before I started working. What it was that I loved about the subject enough to spend time and supplies painting it. I do this mentally now, but it’s a vital part of my painting practice.
The first painting that I found and finished was the pelicans here. I really loved them, but… they needed time and rumination. Again, I had had a clear vision of what I loved – and in this case, it was the subtle colors of the water and birds, and the way the pelicans become one big shape when they stand together in a grouping.
I’ve been working on a larger painting, but it’s in the ugly stage right now so I’m refraining from showing you. The ugly stage doesn’t bother me. Right now it’s a result of growth. Growth is difficult and sometimes painful, but so important to me.