Listening to a Painting

'Blue Bayou'    11x14   sold

 Do your paintings ever speak to you?  Do they tell you want they want to be sometimes?  Do you listen or do you push on with your original idea?  My paintings don't always talk to me but when they do have something to say I usually listen.  It always leads me on an adventure!

Take today's painting.  It began as a demo for my class this week.  I was showing the class how to block in a painting from a value study. I was demonstrating that I could block in a painting using any four colors as long as the values were correct.  Of course the colors you use will effect the outcome of the painting so you can either guide the outcome with your color choices or just let the painting happen by choosing arbitrary color for the underpainting.

This painting took on a life of it's own.

I was working from a reference photo that had a very green meadow with bright green/yellow flowers.  I chose the blues for the underpainting and used an alcohol wash.....all of the sudden it didn't seem like it was going to work for the original bright and sunny scene....  And the drips from the wash were looking like Spanish Moss.

The painting was talking to me!  It wanted to be a swampy landscape with trees dripping with moss. It is no use to fight with a painting to force it to fit your original plan. It is more fun to listen to it and let it take you on an adventure. You learn more and might just end up with a more interesting painting. It certainly will be a better interpretation of your photo!