With 5 days till the show opens, I’m thinking about obliterating this one…. The Bird in the bush is singing a beautiful song of possibility.
Well I did it – I think it was worth while because I really wasn’t that happy with the bonfire – As I said before its not easy to paint something as live and constantly moving as fire. So here is my final effort: I think its achieved a much greater sense of shimmering heat. You need to see it for real to appreciate this though – The paint is a lot thicker now, had some fun dragging it across the canvas with a long straight edge, and I had to end up mainly on the pallet knife which gives it a good variety of marks
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I like Clearing Day, Clearing Night, Unconformity by Day and Unconformity by night
Basically the ones which are simpler. If you stopped painting about a quarter of the way through your normal progress, thats when I think they’re best!
xd
Thats what this is all about – when is the best moment to stop. I think they can always be improved, though I often find myself tinkering around the edges a bit more tentatively as I get nearer the point of finish. This can be a good way to progress because a single mark can upset the balance and change everything, but often this careful approach can erode the energy of those earlier ‘in the zone’ marks. There has been many a time when I wished I could rewind a painting…