Bravery & Painting

I have to say, that what I do for a living takes a certain amount of courage. Every day, I step up to a blank piece of paper or canvas and make something from nothing. Not for the faint of heart. So if you are someone that attempts to do this even as a hobby, pat yourself soundly on the back.

Yesterday, I'd done some work that I was very pleased with, so after dinner I went back into the studio and did three watercolor under-paintings, all of which I was pretty pleased with. So, I went to bed, pretty pleased with myself, thinking about how well I did and wasn't I so good. Ha, ha...

This morning, I didn't have a blank piece of paper, but what I did have were expectations of doing something good. Expectations can be dangerous things! I started in with the pastel on top of my favorite  watercolor. It was just terrible! The pastel was heavy and garish. I wish I'd taken a photo of it. I hated it. Went upstairs, had lunch and pouted a bit. Had more coffee, pouted some more. Went back down and decided what to do. I don't do it very often. Most of the time when a piece isn't working, I will either set it aside or abandon it altogether in the round file. But, I really loved that under-painting and wanted it back, so I wiped and brushed and erased the pastel and got back to the watercolor. Tried again. Decided to go with a color idea closer to the reference and to take my time.

I'm glad I made this effort and now feel on more solid footing to move forward with the other under-paintings. This piece is on Wallis Museum and is 15x15. The reference was taken in Wisconsin. Sorry, the watercolor isn't on the correct white balance. The working piece is roughly cropped.