"Eaton Canyon Dusk"
38" X 48" Oil on Canvas
The painting above was painted back in January 2011. It is a large painting, 36"x48", and so it was leaning along the wall here drying...and staring at me. I finally had enough and threw it back up on my easel. It must be an artists curse that if you look at one of your paintings long enough you will undoubtedly see changes you want to make. Sometimes the changes make the painting better and sometimes you should have listened to your first instinct to call it quits. Paintings live and can taunt you, haha. I think the changes I have made on this one were for the better and I'm much happier now with this one...good thing too because it's large and is very hard to ignore here in the studio.I've gone back in and lowered the contrast of colors in the distant mountains...being subtle speaks volumes. I've also varied the edges of the oak tree shapes, mainly the tops, in the midground. Oooh, much better! I adjusted the colors and detail of the midground bushes that run across the paintings center. I then came to the foreground and added work to the tree, worked more grasses in and worked more on the bush to the right. Some slight work on some rock shadows, the sandy riverbed sand...etc etc etc. Basically I touched up most of the painting and wondered why I had stopped before. Vision! Sometimes it tells you you're finished and sometimes, most of the time, it doesn't really mean it. I don't think there is a painting I have finished that when looking at it later I don't see something I'd change....it's that curse. Really an artist just improves with time and paintings and so it is only natural to see earlier work and want to make changes. Right now, I'm happy with the finish. I'm going to go broke buying a frame for this one, yikes!
4 comments:
Ron - when you get the frame turn the painting to the wall until you deliver it to gallery or client. You must resist the urge to mess with this any further. It's just wonderful.
Hi Mick,
Good suggestion! I wish you were here Mick...you would have liked the changes that were made. I know, sometimes that additional retouching can go awry but it actually was a bonus here. Good to hear from you Mick!
This is beautiful, Ron! I love the delicacy of the leaves and how they cascade down to the ground. I'm glad you're happy with the changes. You're lucky you get to make changes. With a mosaic, when you're done, you're done! :)
Hahaha...I never thought about that Christine. I suppose though that not having that ability to go back at it it forces you to really think ahead...us oil artists can get away with murder...then again that's what I like about oils. Having the ability to make changes on the fly or go back in later if something isn't working or can be improved on.
Glad you like this one Christine...it's going to look cool in the frame.
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