Almost

"Almost", such a simple little word to say, but the implication depending on how it is said, can be enormous and that is my point precisely.    Oh!, I know... I haven't done my daily posts.  I can't figure out how to paint quite that fast. Yes, sometimes I can and do, BUT this year I found myself needing a change.  No, not scenery, moving or lifestyle, but what I want to paint and how I like to think of it is what do I want to say.  It's easy to paint the same thing over and over, it's you know... "safe" SO! for the past seven months I stepped out and away from my soothing, calming, pretty landscapes.  Now, before I go any further, I am talking about my new canvases.  I have this up coming show and everyone knows me for my sky paintings, again, soothing and calming... comments from passerby's "I wish I was there" or "How peaceful".... Well I'm here to tell you, all that is bye bye, finished, through.... Is it scary? YES!, but I have to go down that road.  I struggled and labored over these pieces for they did not come easy.  The progression was laborious, but slowly things began to show some promise.  Canvas after canvas a door was opened revealing new thoughts.   I have finished eight canvases and I am "almost" ready to show a new me.
This YouTube  is a one minute summation of my seven months.  The image below is a small part of a total... I hope you enjoy..        

1:07

"FREE HBO"

This painting is another of going back in and doing this and that better known as "tweaking".  I must say, in doing so I got to revisit the memories of this trip and the "FREE HBO" For me it was a shoe-in spotting that sign after a really long drive, besides, I had to stop to see if I could get circulation back into my legs... :)  The painting is a 6x6" oil painted on a 1.5" deep varnished wooden box:  (SOLD)

"HEY! TAXI"

Revisiting this painting I added a few things for me.. Why would I do that.. Because I can... 

So many times, to many times I look at a painting that I thought was finished, after all I signed it, moved on as I would like to think, but NO! I have to go and tweak it just a little.. Oh! the madness of it all.  This painting, at this point is finished and is a 6x8" painted on a 1.5" varnished wooden box:  (Sold)

"GRASSLANDS"

Fallowing a long forgotten path I came to a clearing that opened up to the grasslands.   If not for the breeze that gently blew across the grasses making soft rustling sounds there would be no sound at all.

Lazy clouds drifted in slow-motion as I painted this sine inside my head.  As an artist I find I am always painting, breaking things  down, mixing colors, highlighting here, deep shadows there, the process never really goes away,  rarely do I just look at something without thinking of composition and the many ways of painting it....  Maddening at time but what am I to do...  This painting is 6x6" painted on a 1.5" varnished wooden box with no framing required.

(Sold)