Go Ahead, Scratch the Itch.
I'm taking a break from the portraits because I have an itch to scratch. I've really been wanting to rework some of my old abstracts so, I put the portraits away for now. I started with this original 30" x 35" painting that I did about a year ago.
I liked the simplicity of it at the time but, I was ready to change it completely. So, I went in on a Saturday to just play and this is what resulted.
It was interesting but, something about the left side really bothered me. I didn't like the line that was cutting that part of the painting off and the colors looked muddy, not vibrant enough.
The idea of this painting sitting in my studio in this state was just unacceptable. I felt like my dirty laundry was being exposed. I couldn't wait until Monday so, I went back in this morning. First, I cleaned my studio and organized it in preparation for the 52 Paintings course I'm starting tomorrow with Mati McDonough and Faith Evans-Sills. Then I made some business cards. I organized my bag for my next workshop. An hour later I started in on the painting.
I'm liking it better now. I have some more paintings that I hope to rediscover in the next few weeks. I'll get back to the portraits later, but I think I'm going to be working on the abstracts for a bit longer.
Things I learned;
1. Put the paintbrush down and use a different tool.
2. White doesn't always brighten the painting
3. Doing other things in the studio first before jumping into the painting was actually a good thing. This will be more doable for me next year when my schedule at school changes a bit.
Happy Painting!