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11/15/2004: "Sleepy sleepy painter"

Last night I stayed up way way too late working on one of the paintings for my next show, below is the aerial photograph I took that I was basing the painting on.

My first attempt at this painting did not go well at all. I thought I could get the same gist without being exact, but it didn't convey the same sense of space. So, I redid it, following the photo more closely. You'll notice purples and blues in the water areas, which come across nicely in the new painting. Also, I added in some touches of metallic bronze paint on the Raw Sienna looking mounds, to get them to glow. I also realized that the light source was coming from the right, and I hadn't added enough white to that side, which helped a lot.

I'm happy to say that the current version of the painting looks very similar to the above photo and I really love the way it turned out. I would go so far as to say I nailed it!

The other two paintings didn't fare quite so well. I had my first shot of spraying mineral spirits onto a glaze overlay and it ran and created rivulets exactly like I'd hoped, but I'm not sure I'm happy with the way it looks. I don't want to use a technique just because it's cool, when it doesn't really add anything to the finished piece.

Also, I took Anna's advice from way back, and tried to add a rose colored glaze to my previous low tide painting (over the water part) to create a more unified feeling, but I think I used too much pigment and it turned out making everything too uniform and pink. I'll have to retouch the rivulets on that one.

I had a friend over who is the new director of our Arts and Humanities Council, I really value her judgment. I told her I was thinking of smoothing out the rivulets since I wasn't sure I like how stylized I had made them, but she said if I do that, it won't be as balanced, seeing as the trees etc. are all really stylized. She has a good point. I'll need to de-emphasize all of the stylization, or just leave it alone.

Grrr, it's funny because I realized this morning that I have some half-n-half in the fridge with an expiration date later than my opening. I don't have invitations designed, I haven't written an artist statement, I have all those canvases painted white that are too wet to touch, and the few paintings I have really worked on, may end up being crap. (except for the sandbar one which I really do like).

I ended up telling my sister Kelly in Texas that I'd help her pay for her plane ticket to Anchorage if she would go and help out my sister (who had a healthy baby boy Sat. morning) instead of me. Believe me, I would love to go, he's adorable and it would be a lot of fun, but I've simply run out of time. She's discussing it with her husband as we speak.

You know, having a solo is a lot like going on a bender. Every time I do it I *swear* I'll never do it again. But then, a couple months later....I can't help it. why do I put myself through this?