Go with the flow...

First version... above - Below: the third

Two weeks have flown by, blown by - and I - like a leaf or bit of flotsam have been carried along in the maelstrom. I painted this one evening and felt wonderful about it. It actually gave me a little thrill each time I looked at it. Next day I felt a few tiny changes were in order - and I "ruined it" !! Then I wasn't able to get back to it for a few days. Finally, yesterday, I spent time trying to regain the freshness of the first draft, so to speak - and made it worse.

The lesson? Don't be so eager to be working (painting, finishing things) that you overwork and lose the very quality you sought. I should have started another rather than changing what I had. My excuse? Since starting the "job" I've not had time to prepare more panels... Well, it's a reason, but not a good excuse.

Today I'm looking at it anew - trying to be objective - and it's not so bad, it's just different from the first version. Like I said, I wish I had both interpretations That's the beauty of working in series. One gets to see a progression and to explore so many options without the burden of thinking there is/was only one way to make that painting.

Today I'll take it to the Heritage Center and just look at it while I work on something new. It's 24 x 24, by the way.

And good news...
I was juried into the Sautee-Nacoochee Arts Center Gallery this past week and they took four of my large paintings for the current show! I went to the opening reception last night though I was dead on my feet. Being in this gallery has been a long time coming and I wasn't about to miss my first showing there. Yeah, there's a story there, but I think I can finally let some hard feelings go. The current director is a charming and knowledgeable artist with a broad view of the arts and an eye toward balancing the scope of the gallery between quality professional work, and a venue for area artists and students of the arts.

















It's a spring of blue and lilac for me. I've always been drawn to purple, lilac and blue flowers, favoring violets and purple phlox and deep dark clematis and iris.

So here's Winkle, my only "exotic" kitty - a blue-point Siamese, accompanying me on a stroll to the pond. She coordinates quite well with the lilacs - though it's the little fishies in the pond that she is stalking here...