Improvements . . . .




"Big Sur On Sunday"
Oil on stretched canvas, 16" x 20" . . . .the improved version.



The next one is the original painting, "Another Sur" . . . posted back in mid September.






In the last month, I have taken the opportunity to sit quietly and reflect on some of the work I completed over the last several months. I must admit that I either did not see well (as in artistic seeing) or wasn't paying attention when I painted some of those works. Having a studio full of paintings that came down from the show, it is incumbant on the artist to look at each with a different set of eyes than those he painted with. If for nothing else, it helps the artist see work that could use more finishing touches to make it less . . . . .shall we say, rough.

Here is a piece in which I saw rawness, but it (in my new eyes since painting it) definetely had some glaring needs while it still had promise. Having no experience with glazing or going back into a painting to make changes (I have only pained alla prima up to this time), this also provided another learning opportunity. So, up on the easel "Another Sur" went. It was coated with alkyd medium then the improvements began.

I could feel a different tempo within me as I rebuilt this piece. I had to correct color intensities, atmospheric perspective, shapes and create more movement in the piece. There was much more to be done, but that was the major thrust of the effort. I went at it deliberately, wiping away when needed and replacing spots of color with the precise value, intensity and temperatures called for in each lighting condition in the piece.

I think it is much better and easier to look at.

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