In the 2 paintings here, the sensation was of the evening sunlight on the fresh green of cedars at the trout ponds....so I looked into the foliage in different places on my walk that evening. I make only one painting a day, so these are from 2 separate days...there may be more coming, I can never tell, nor do I wish to plan the work in advance.
On the making of pictures, it pays to risk everything. If you already have a picture like the one you made, best to follow your hunches, if you have any, and chances are good that you do....because you are after that fresh, excited feeling in yourself, and you won't get it if you repeat, in essence, a picture you already have. You've made that picture, so you can move on, and each new work calls for a new, but small push forward. This just means that in the process of making each new work, there will come a moment, and likely more than one, where you have to say, well I'll try this even if it upsets the apple cart, and it likely will. But gradually the picture you are working on will find its balance as well, and then you can stop. It could mean that you have to take out a portion of the picture and try again....now the other thing doesn't belong, and you have to try something else, but the thing is not dead, so you and it move along in some way, change after change, seeking a new, pleasing balance that you haven't quite seen before, but that you welcome. But you have to listen to your hunches to do this. And this is what makes it all an adventure, and exciting.
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