I am still working on landscape ideas in the moments between moments. And you can see the edge of the recent pine tree drawing peeking on the lower left hand side of the photo.
But I have been longing to get back to this large bright yellow still life that I began a while back. And now I have resumed work on it.
I flit between pictures sometimes like a bee flits among flowers. Well, since I paint flowers I guess I literally flit among the flowers too ….
I made the version that’s light and airy (the previous post). Then I wondered how it might look at the other end of day. So I made this version.
Still distracted.
I have a list of things to work on and I was supposed to be working my list. But then I got an idea about this motif, and it seemed like something that I should do instead.
Sometimes I seem to be dreaming while awake.
This is a beginning of something or other. Not sure where it’s going — only that it’s light.
Some of the landscapes I’ve been painting are just scenes without any special significance. And this landscape began that way. However, as I keep tinkering with it, the scene begins to suggest something to me. I don’t know what it is. A memory? Some hidden meaning?
While I was tinkering, I made a drawing.
The little yellow tree used to take up more space, as in the drawing. But I decided to make it smaller. And somehow that works better. But I don’t know why. Not in terms of naturalism, but just as meaning. Or so it seems.
After landscapes, still life and flowers. I have some pictures that I need to finish including the one above which measures 48 x 36 inches. I began it a while back. I’m eager to return to it.
Painting the landscape has given me lots of ideas that apply to this. So, soon — very soon I’ll return to my flowers.
I liked the first version a lot and thus was reluctant to have another whack at it right away. And there’s nothing wrong with that: I had plenty of other things to keep me busy.
But it’s undergone another swipe. I still like it. And I still think it needs some further something, though I’m not sure what that something is, so once again I’m briefly setting it aside while I contemplate my next move.
The earlier version is visible here:
https://alethakuschan.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/crepe-myrtles-in-acrylic/
The painting measures 36 x 18 inches.
I decided to let loose with the paint over pretty much the whole scene. It has different colors with a slightly different ratio of sky to land and other changes of a “bustin’ loose” sort. This acrylic painting on canvas panel measures 18 x 14 inches.
I like it a lot better than before. I knew I would do this at some point, repaint it using a loaded brush. I just didn’t know when I’d do it. And now I’ve done it.
The earlier version is here:
https://alethakuschan.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/little-meadow/
I like my crazy little color studies for up-coming largish landscapes. This one measures 13.5 x 9 inches. Unfortunately they are nearly impossible to photograph properly. They are hard to “read,” as it is, their whole raison d’etre being color. Que sera sera. What is most interesting about the study — the character of the color relationships — is also the feature that causes the photography challenge, that and Mother Nature’s grey mantle this morning, and my general naivety about the technical aspects of photography.
Later on, when it really matters, I’ll have to rephotograph all the finished works (not the studies). I just post the studies and the work in progress stuff as a record for myself and hopefully as entertainment for my internet friends.
The study is painted using acrylic paints on unstretched canvas primed with clear acrylic.
An earlier crazy little color study was posted here:
https://alethakuschan.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/little-garden/
Nothing like a square for getting you centered ….
This abstract image depicts a tree and its reflection in water. It’s the first swipe at the motif and measures a compact 12 by 12 inches.
Gradually I add more trunks to the woods and it begins to get a little bit dimensional. This painting measures 36 x 24 inches and it’s been featured here before.
As here:
https://alethakuschan.wordpress.com/2018/01/19/more-work-on-the-arbor/
and here:
https://alethakuschan.wordpress.com/2018/01/11/painting-the-path-through-the-arbor/
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