" Lemons II "Oil
6" x 6"
I've been working on large paintings this week and have missed painting the little guys. So, today's post was fun to do. It's the second in a series featuring this vintage clear glass plate. I mentioned to my friend, Judy, who is a writer how good it feels to complete a painting a day and how frustrating larger paintings are that can take weeks or months to complete. She equated it to poetry and prose. Poems can be written in a short time, prose can take years. At any rate, I will shoot for 3 dailies a week. I enjoyed seeing the large painting that Frank Gardner completed. It was one of those that was hanging around waiting to be finished. Some unfinished paintings just need to be ignored. I am so excited to start a painting. Half way through I'm often discouraged or wondering "what was I thinking?" But, I have learned it is at just this stage that I must keep going, it takes what it takes, whether layering, scaping, glazing, scumbling, etc. Funny, that it usually doesn't need much more to bring it to a finish. Weird business we are in!
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12 comments:
Hi Jennifer, Yeah, I'm still working on some larger paintings this week too.
Sometimes a painting goes through that ugly stage that just has to be worked through. My question is when do you just have to let some go? I think many can be resolved with work, but there are the ones that are just not going to get any better no matter what you do to them.
I try and work on several large ones at once and pop back and forth. Looking at just one painting for days at a time makes me blind to what is going on.
Thanks for that link. I would have left that 30x40 at the top of the blog if I knew that you were going to reference that piece :-)
This is another great painting BTW. Lemons and dish towels. It looks so much bigger than a 6x6"
Thanks, Frank. I am going to try and share more of my process in my blog. As for size, I always felt the measure of a good, small painting was the power of scale, whether it has a "big" feel to it. Guess this one passes.
i love your work and frank gardner's too. it's a pleasure to see each one of your new paintings delivered to my email box. thank you!
kkTheresa, thanks so much for following my blog! I'm glad you are enjoying it. I will visit your's today.
Ok, I'm going to back and look at some of my abandoned projects and see if any could have life breathed into them. These lemons are definitely breathing.
Frank's right, this little painting has big presence.
Thanks, Susan for your kind remarks. I have a stack of plein air "starts" that I look at every now and then thinking they can be pushed to a completion but then new ideas for paintings take hold and there they sit in a pile. I should just throw them out. I will do that today! I have friends who can paint over old paintings. I've never been able to do that either. I have another friend who is always attracted to what I think is my weakest work..go figure. It's all personal taste. It's worth the time to consider unfinished work, new thoughts to solve problems with them arise. Good luck with yours.
I think I'll take one or two to the studio with me in the morning (it IS morning, what am I saying?) and see if they can be resurrected. I mean, what could I lose, right?
Now I've got a plan for my day. Thanks!
Susan, Let me know how it goes. Will work on my own "fix-it" today. I like to draw on them with white chalk to try out simple changes in design. On big color changes I tape acetate/mylar over the entire painting and paint on that or if I'm thinking of changing the color of one shape I make that color on paper, cut out the "shape" and tape that on to see how it looks. Might be the cowardly approach to just slapping on paint, but it works great. I have turned what I thought were dogs into good work. I also use the cut-out trick if I'm thinking of adding an element to see where it should go. Have at it!
First thing I'm struck by are the wonderful compositions in your work! I love how you use the clear plate and the cloth's design. . .
Thanks, Vicki.
I'm glad that my paintings hit you with the design/composition first. I feel this is my strong point, what I enjoy most about painting. Thanks for visiting!
Your paintings hit me first as beautifully designed compositions and then they become objects. Your wokr is incredibly strong and they have scale that defies the small size. I could go on and on but I'll save some for next time ;)
As far as the pile of unfinished. We all have them. I've mistakenly destroyed some paintings that I could have tweaked to a good finish because of my lack of perspective on my own work. Some of them are in a photo snapshot book I have and I've had people compliment them not knowing that I chopped them up and threw them away. When I see the photos I think, gee that was a bit hasty. Live and learn.
Hi Mary,
I have doubts about every painting I do. What has helped is the blog, seeing the painting posted with the space surrounding it as if it were on a wall completes the process. I usually am pleased at that point. Whew! We can be so hard on ourselves.
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