Next Step ... Plus Addendum

Greetings Dear Readers-

The laundry is done, I've put in a couple of miles, and it's too early to plant tomatoes so I'm back in the studio to work on the piece I shared with you last week. 

I've put in another couple of hours, alot of it spent just looking. 

Over my shoulder.  In a mirror.  Upside down.  In a different room.

I want to come at it with a fresh eye, and an attitude of detachment. 

Looking at my work in this way removes my delicate ego from the equation. After all, how can someone as fabulous as I paint anything but loveliness? ( I heard your eyes roll from clear over here. )

Detaching from the excitement of the original inspiration helps me see the painting not as my dear sweet baby, to be defended at all cost, but perhaps as my wayward teenager, to be guided and shown some tough love. ( Not that my teenagers...oh well.)

version from 4-12-10

It was a fruitful session.  I corrected some of the movement of the limbs,  and developed shadows and sunlit areas a bit more accurately. I'm actually really pleased with the painting as it is, but am considering adding a figure to the lower area. If I can drum up the courage. At this point I'm willing practice making just the right marks on a separate bit of canvas to see if what's in my head is workable.

4-20-10 version

Time for more laundry, more walks.  Still too early to plant tomatoes.

A few hours later . . .

Aha!  After playing with a variety of figures in a variety of postures ( sitting, laying, sitting in the tree, male, female, short, tall, dwarf...) HH asked about a simple suggestion of what might have been ... like a picnic.  For the record, HH does not have an artistic bone in his well-defined body, but he's usually right about what needs to happen in a painting I'm struggling with.

I added the suggestion of a blanket, and some marks that might read "basket". 

(I left out the wrappers and chicken bones.)  It works perfectly.  Not too romantic, not too specific.  In perfect haromony with the rest of the painting.  I'm really pleased.

And to top it off, the laundry is done and folded.  Life is good.