Finished the background and did more work on the big fish
And here is the new guy. I spent three or four days editing the photo and drawing sketches and doing various treatments of paint and pencils, and I realized that it was mostly wasted time because in this painting, like in all my paintings, those big plans are crumbled up into a ball and into the wastebasket within the first ten minutes. I hate hanging around in the architects office and I feel like I am treading water (to mix a metaphor) until I get to the site and am helping the mason put down bricks. You know what I mean?
Art is a process, not a product.
ReplyDeleteThere's no such thing as "wasted time" doing tests and treatments. I think all the planning and thinking eventually show up in the final masterpiece. Your first background looks like a mosaic in a mosaic—very sparkly and almost psychedelic. I'm interested in seeing how the second one turns out. In the reference photo, the cropping almost makes it look like a bird. (Are you thinking of doing a bird series next?)
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think maybe all that fussing and fretting goes into my subconscious and then leaks out into the painting somehow, but i don't know. As soon as the first paint goes down it doesn't look like I expected it to and changes have to be made and so on and so on.
DeleteI have no idea what you're saying, but the results are worth it. The whole thing is dazzling. And the medium size fish look much more tended to and exciting.
ReplyDeleteThe cropping of the next one up seems unfortunate. Maybe it could become a diptych?
I think you’re trying to plan too much instead of just letting it happen. I mean, you know what you’re doing: just do it. The last one turned out great - all those tiny little fish worked!
ReplyDeleteA good technique to illustrate a children’s book. I can really see it.
ReplyDelete