Seldom Seen Hollow II

Seldom Seen Hollow II

9" x 12" Oil on Board

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I completed this painting almost immediately after the previous posted painting and yes, it was still raining.  However, the cabin had a little covered porch on the back, so I stayed dry for this one.  Maybe I'm making excuses, but the majority of my paintings are completed within tiny windows of time. When I'm able to find time. And usually, I only have time (and energy) to complete one painting of a subject in a sitting.  That means that the posted painting is most often my first attempt at painting a subject.  I'm sure this is obvious, but what I've realized on the rare occasions when I have time to complete multiple paintings of the same subject is that only near the end of finishing the 1st painting, sometimes even days or weeks later, do I actually have any idea how to handle the subject; meaning, I notice things that I didn't notice before starting, figure out color mixtures, etc., because I've stared at the subject for hours and hours.  This is what leads me to overwork or muddy up those color mixtures, values, etc.;  I've worked and worked, but only at the end do I really see what needs to be done and by then it's too late.  Trying to rework a painting at the end rarely ever works out. And for some reason, once I've "finished" a painting, I have a tough time making myself go back to it. 

I guess this is why painters paint the same subject over and over again.  Once is not enough.  Twice is inordinately better.  And painting the same subject back to back like I did this day was extremely informative.  By the time I finished the first painting, I noticed things or figured things out that I applied to this painting such as the color in the shadows.  It's like trying to figure out how to play a guitar chord and not getting it right until the end of the song. Even while painting this second painting of the same view, I continued to see things I hadn't noticed before.  If only this property were mine, I'd master that view...

Alzarin Crimson, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow light, manganese violet, sap green, viridian, chromium oxide green, pthalo blue, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, titanium while.