Painting like Crazy!

Today I set my goal to finish enough paintings to justify a trip to Indy, (60 miles away) to deliver a batch to McFee Gallery. I needed to complete the second half of a small 10 x 10 square canvas, paint 2 bigger paintings (20 x 20) from scratch, and re-do one that I didn't like and try to make 3 quick 8 x 10 panel paintings. Also, paint all of the edges black that were naked or needed a touch-up, and varnish everything.

This is how it worked out: the small, square canvas took longer than it should have, but it's done. I varnished it and then took the photo. Turns out that is not the right order of things. The photo is horribly glared and makes the painting look like crap--it really is brighter and prettier in person. Here it is: Cold Moon



The two bigger (20 x 20 inches) paintings turned out pretty well. The first one is a knife painted background in bright oversaturated colors with 3 black tree silhouettes. But, in my busy-ness, I forgot to grab it and bring it outside to photograph with the others. Now it's dark and I will have to show you that painting tomorrow.

The second bigger painting is my favorite of the day. It's a Winter scene with Birch trees on an abstract blue and white background. It has a glow to it and it photographed exceptionally well.
I call it Winter Solstice:

I have decided after looking at this pic in the post that I really like it a lot. Is that conceited?

The next painting is one that I did several weeks ago and never really liked. So I re-worked it without re-painting the whole thing. It needed to have the colors changed and a few elements removed or adjusted. I took out the umbrella because it just didn't fit the mood of the piece.

This is the first version: the moon reflection wasn't working, the umbrella is awkward, the path edges are too prominent, I don't like the orange, and the grassy area is too dark.


So I made some changes, cooled down the color tone and here is After Dark:



Now I like it better, but there are bound to be people who like version 1 more. That's ok, I've noticed that sometimes people love the paintings that aren't my favorites and vice versa. Just goes to show that taste is highly individual.

On to the next task, the panels. I had prepped them with a background color this morning and went back in the afternoon to finish them. They were to be black birds on a wire in 3 different arrangements. The plan was to make them work as a set of 3 or as individuals. They were a disaster. Midway through the first one, I looked at it and thought it was boring. I re-painted it 2 more times before I gave up. I'll leave those for another day and idea.

Everything got edges painted black and varnished. I found a neat way to do the edges, normally a task that I dread. I use liquid black leather dye and a dauber. It goes on extremely smooth, with one coat coverage. One dip in the jar will cover 2 sides of a largish gallery wrap canvas. Dries fast, too. Probably because it's alcohol based.

Final count of paintings to deliver: 6 of the 10 x 10 squares, 2 of the 20 x 20 squares, one 16x20, and the huge diptych-48 x 30.

So I packed it in and headed back to the house. Then I called the gallery manager and made arrangements to meet him tomorrow in Indy at the gallery with my new work. I still have to wire them all-I'm considering taking them all to a frame shop in the morning and having them wire them for me. The last chore of the day is to make an inventory sheet to take with me.

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