K-I-S-S

K-I-S-S. Keep it simple stupid. It was the first "rule" laid down at art school. How could I have forgotten that simplicity is best and less is more--in design and in painting.

Nearsighted most of my life (till I got cataract surgery and didn't know I could select what degree of vision I was comfortable living with), cutting out the details was easy; I didn't see them. Life was foggy and I liked it that way. Everybody looked better--younger-dewier. Now with 20/30, I can see every line, crinkle and wrinkle. Ghastly. Too many details. Too confusing. Yuk. But I embellishing--and deviating.

With the joke of my beginner's efforts on the detail heavy clown on me, I thought I'd paint the sky, something simple. But when I went out on the deck to take a look, the sky was too simple. There wasn't a cloud. There wasn't a streak of blue, a fluff of white or an ominous blue/gray on the horizon-- nothing but an all over even light grey--about a number two on the gray scale. You photographers get the picture. How boring is that?

When nature isn't accommodating, go to the photograph files. I spent the morning looking at skies. Then skies with grass. Then just grass. All of these pictured here have potential--and a little more in them then a flat field of color. I am making pictures here--not paint samples. Keep a painting too simple, it could be just stupid and totally lacking anything of interest to grab the viewer. I like the grass.