2 October 2011

...and you "lose" some :-)

Remember this one, painted under pressure? Well, it came home again. The recipient didn't really like it with all the foreground, and wants the ruins to be bigger. I am grateful for his honesty, and think I understand why he was disappointed with it. So, this time, I have carte blanche to repaint as I see fit, instead of working with the space and his request to include the full length of the ruins. That's why I am painting the new versions, but this time to the scale I want for the subject, ignoring the position it was supposed to go in the house. These will form the basis of my next exhibition, along with poppy works when they eventually form in my watercolour/mixed media imagination (a little like the 2005 works), but he will have first choice when they are done.

I am reasonably confident that I can on-sell the one above, although I might retouch it a bit first - it was too fresh to varnish so I can add more detail to trees and shadows, and perhaps strengthen the foreground a little, and I will reframe it as I didn't really like it in the frame chosen to match furniture. In the meantime I have to paint a replacement painting. So, putting all that out of my mind while I work, I am painting as though these works are for me. Let's hope he likes one of them! I will do a third as well, in the size that fits the space, but it wont be the composition he originally wanted as that simply results in far too much foreground. I am still thinking that composition through, and spent quite some time at the exhibition last night watching videos and photos of the ruins on the big screen there.

This morning I painted one sky in with a palette knife, a little different for me but I think it will work with the chunky ruins. It was such fun, but surprisingly far more physical than using a brush so I am taking a bit of time off this afternoon to rest my wrist which is threatening to play up again. I guess I could tidy up my paints while I think about the next painting.... or not!

Today I am grateful for a peaceful day.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

You're still using a poppy as your signature?

Kay said...

Yes, unless it really will upset the painting, then I just sign with my name on the back.