My Blog List

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Couldn't Serve Worth A Damn

Is anything here worth saving?


Too Pink. Too Blue.
How discouraging the last two days have been.  Excited by my rediscovery of Van Gogh, I finally get off the lounge, down the stairs and turn the lights on in the studio.  Thank God I cleaned it seven weeks ago!

I give a little landscape my usual try, standing and dancing to the music as I did before--and I end up wiping it out this morning. It's too pink.  It's too blue.  It's too clunky and totally lacks finesse. I think Van Gogh gave me a complex.  I start again--limited palette--seated--part time; it's hard to adjust.  I'm not comfortable. The easel ledge is too high and must be lowered.  I need to sit in my roll around chair.  Maybe then? I'll make my complaint next Tuesday. Going back to painting after knee surgery requires changes. Going back to painting in oils after looking at Van Gogh is like taking a tennis lesson. You can't serve worth a damn with all the new thoughts
going through your head.


15 comments:

  1. Bonjour chère amie,
    J'espère que petit à petit vous allez mieux...
    Je ne sais pas si vous trouvez un peu trop bleu ou un peu trop rose, mais moi j'aime beaucoup ces nuances de couleurs... Je pense que ce soit Van Gogh ou Gauguin ils auraient apprécié.
    Prenez soin de vous.
    Gros bisous

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martine said: Hello dear,
      I hope that little by little you get better ...
      I do not know if you find a bit too blue or too pink, but I love these shades of colors ... I think that Van Gogh or Gauguin they would have liked.
      Take care of yourself.
      Kisses

      I answered: Lentement, je m'améliore, mais je l'avais espéré reprise aurait été plus rapide. Le jaune bleu, rose pâle et a droit, le milieu a eu tort de l'activité - il suffit de noter off un peu la peinture pour revenir dans le swing. Le temps de séchage et mon empressement à aller de l'avant ne vont pas ensemble. Maintenant, je suis coincé avoir à attendre les huiles out. Ce n'est pas grave. J'ai le temps. J'ai noté les changements physiques que je devais faire dans le studio si je voulais y retourner; recueillant que la connaissance était mon succès.

      Slowly I am improving, but I had hoped recovery would have been quicker. The blue, pink and pale yellow was right, the medium was wrong for the activity--just to jot off a little painting to get back in the swing. The drying time and my eagerness to push ahead didn't go together. Now I'm stuck having to wait the oils out. It's okay. I have time. I did note the physical changes I had to make in the studio if I wanted to get back there; garnering that knowledge was my success.

      Delete
  2. Save everything and put on standby after ... something will happen ....
    I see in the first winter and in the second a desire for rebirth and revival of life, health and color.
    As a watercolorist I have the advantage of not being able, too many times rework my works ... after a long time some, ready to be torn, have reappeared in their entirety ... just that while I was painting was not what I wanted and I felt alien. DO NOT TOUCH MORE ...
    works are true, they are fine well.
    look at these in a month at least and you will be surprise of their instinctive and strong beauty, especially when considered simultaneously as two seasons of life ...Ciao,Rita.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not going to throw this little painting away. I don't know whether I'll go back to it. I wasn't successful on canvas, but I was successful in that I was there. I found out I have to adjust the easel so I can sit IF I want to get back to painting. I have to sit on my roll around secretarial chair. I have to be able to move around, put some distance between me and the work. I did discover what adjustments had to be made to get back to work. That was a step forward.

      You are so smart Rita. I agree with everything you wrote. I have thrown paintings away that I should not have and have regreted it. I can recall each one still. Each thing we do takes us forward regardless of the quality of the work. The thing is to work.

      Delete
  3. I find there is a lot of meaning in it, there can be no finger on it but stay there to watch it fascinates me hugs Danielle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably frustration. But I do like it better than the wispy color rendition. It's a save for a rainy day. Hugs back Danielle. Thanks for reinforcing my self confidence. I was thoroughly disgusted.

      Delete
  4. A great post-operation and post-Cezanne reconnect - Save it! The design with adding the dark areas is dramatic and perfect. Go for the Roth Design FIRST next time, and add your brighter colors. He usually had the darker outlines around his large simple shapes for a reason. Take them out and some would look like total non-representational pieces. Wonderful stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think a smaller brush would have been more successful, but blocking in the lights, dark and midtones should be done with broader strokes. VG used dark delineation the same way I do when doing elevational, architectural drawings, to indicate depth. It's the same technique we use in fine art contour drawings. They indicate the dark side of things. The monochromatic rendition here is much more interesting to me than the first, colorful attempt. Overall, it was nice to be back. Sitting, however, is going to be difficult to adjust to. I could skip it by having shorter sessions. I get carried away though. Tough year for painting. Great year for ironing out health issues.

      Delete
  5. I totally get it. Stay persistent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Persistence is what glues us all together In this pursuit, Dan. :-)

      Delete
  6. Rita is so right.

    Save everything. Re-assess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is still on the easel awaiting for "later." I think size, in combination with using oils had a lot to do with my fiasco. I thought it was odd that I could "paint" small on the iPad, but not--now this is a revealing word that popped to mind--on a real canvas of the same size as the iPad screen. I guess it's the tool? A brush is different than a finger. It STROKES. I'll have to think about that --or not. :-)). It's all fun.

      Delete
  7. I meandered through a harvested cotton field with my 3y/old today, marveling in the tidbits we could pick up... so naturally I see cotton here:-) I find the palette and form very pleasing, for it reminds me of a fall morning well spend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does look cottony. That's the result of smudging the mess with my thumb after I got disgusted. But, as I said, the little painting did good things for me. It showed me what I have to do to get back to painting sooner than a healing knee takes. Today, Sunday, November 3rd, I'm lowering the ledges on the easels and pulling out my secretarial chair. It rolls around. Painting is an active-ity. Sounds like a charming time with your son, a special time. I miss those. They are the fondest of memories.

      Delete
  8. both of these paintings have the distinctive lwroth marks...I agree with everyone...just save them, let them dry and revisit later. I love the liveliness.

    ReplyDelete