It looks too flat, or too cartoonish, or too blue... her eyes are funny... spaced too far apart. Her nose isn't turned enough to the side... and her lips. Man, her lips are wrong. I think it is that thick brown line. And her hair... I could do a lot more with it. Is that shoulder too large? While I am thinking about it... Do I really like that bird? His wing is to big. Maybe he is too chubby... or too blue. I should put some more pink in there.
This is why I should put paintings in the closet or something when I am done painting on them... because otherwise I obsess over the things I see.
And I had this one hanging up... so I see if all day everyday.
So it went from this:
To this:
She certainly looks more focused, the repositioning of her eyes really helps. And her lips look much much better. I added the pink I wanted to the bird.. and he is smaller. But I was not finished messing with this painting...oh no. After fixing her face and hair... I looked and thought, man, that chubby bird is annoying me now. Too cartoony still. And maybe he should be a little more active, seeing as she is pretty static.
So I started playing around with it in Artweaver.
I re-sized and positioned her shoulder and I created a new bird. I worked for hours on that bird. I painted it on like 7 different layers from a Dover reference image of a bird. Am I done? No. The bird doesn't look painterly enough for me now... its too digital. Plus I need to fix the white swirls underneath his tail. And now that I changed the bird completely the composition is changed... more work for me! Now I need to add something else in there (or take something away) to make the piece feel balanced again. Now that I have been working digitally, I think I may end up finishing the piece digitally. (Or if I figure out later that I totally hate it, well... its just pixels. Delete!)
Of course, this keeps me from the five or so other paintings that are waiting.. but oh well. Maybe one day I will get to those.
I didn't stop working while I stopped blogging about my progress. For my birthday I ordered five new gallery wrapped canvas, and some heavy gloss gel medium. They aren't kidding about the heavy, definately has stiff peaks. I've been using it for everything from glue to sealer.
I seal my pencil on canvas for my rough sketches, so I can paint over it without worrying about smearing the graphite. It also works to seal marker so it doesn't keep bleeding through my mixed medium pieces. I am also using the gel medium to seal between layers of acrylic so that while painting it doesn't become... soluable? again. I've been using it so much I am half way through my jar. Yarg! In addition to sealing pieces, I've been using it to make thick smeary glazes for my acrylics. I can't wait to add mica flakes into it and paint with those. This stuff is fun! I don't know how I ever lived with out it. I also have been using it for inkjet transparency transfers. I haven't quite worked those out perfectly yet.. still it adds a nice texture an dimension to my canvas.
I ordered a pound of paperclay from Dick Blick so that I can fix and finish (yeah right) a couple little dolls and birds and things that are waiting on more clay... but my clay still hasn't come in the mail! WHY!? (And here I was just complaining about not being able to finish all my paintings...) I also ordered gesso an absorbent ground for the gourds... I forgot to mention that in my month long absensce I also ordered a box of canteen gourds from Welburn. (Of course I have been working on gourds instead of painting on canvas.) I love internet shopping, I don't have to take a taxi anywhere. (Shipping is cheaper than the taxi ride to the art stores would be.)
Now I need more weaving material so I can finish the gourd bowls I've been working on.
I made an entire wish list of art supplies I want... I'll have to wait until the next gift-giving holiday! I don't know if I'll survive. Every time I buy something new I use it and then think, "Oh, if only I had _____ to use with this!"
Save me from my self.
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