on going somewhere

Part of the intent of this post was to compare/contrast the two canal side pictures. There is, however, too much of a discrepancy between the quality of the two pics for any real view into those changes. Sorry.



Firstly these are still works in progress closing in on being "done."
On the subject of getting somewhere I feel I have some progress there.
It takes me a while to remember to paint. That is to say I am usually locked into illustration aspects of the picture and not those things that are painting's milieu. I feel I am having success in reworking some of these picture with broader suggestions and implications rather than working on detail. Trying to capture the form through color and light rather than line and literal translation. I certainly have been told to do this and have seen it in paintings. I also have remembered to do it myself but it seems that there is a certain amount of painting that has to happen before this knowledge kicks in. Particularly if there has been a hiatus between works.

In regards to the canal side changes that I am not demonstrating with this post's pics I was trying to undo a flatness i was unhappy about. This was done (intended if not achieved) by changing some color choices. Adding the cadmium yellow, changing the black masses into deep color hues to pull it out to the foreground. I will have to scrutinize this painting some more to see if I succeeded in this. At this writing I would say the changes are an improvement.

Additionally I feel it is important to mention that there has been a sense of doing (as opposes to striving) in this last batch of painting. Is there more to learn and more to improve? Yes, but it does not mean there isn't that satisfaction of growth and increased intention in the painting. I think this might be the nut of my desire to paint. It is something to problem solving or creation that is not so easily found in other activities. I don't think I realized how much I missed it. Hooray for flea market paint.