'Knee Deep in Poppies' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis purchase painting $125 |
Sometimes the chosen course is not a good one. The concept just doesn't work. What can we do with a painting gone astray? I usually do one of three things.
The painting began with an oil stain underpainting with my concept an intimate crop of a meadow filled with poppies. I didn't like it. |
The idea I wanted for the painting was to do an intimate crop of a poppy field. It wasn't working. It seemed like a jumble of colors with no focus. I tried scraping and dusting and adding more grasses but the more I added the worse it became. (That is often the case) So I did some of my favorite salvage tricks and ended up with a painting that had a different concept but which pleased me more.
1. The first thing I did was wipe the painting down. I just took my finger and blended everything. I didn't want to remove a lot of pastel but I wanted to calm some of the busyness I had created. Now I could look at the big shapes and figure out how to make it more interesting.
2. The second thing I did was spray the painting with workable fixative. I had filled up a lot of the tooth of the paper already so in order to give me more tooth to work with I decided to spray it. In this case I was not careful with my spray application on purpose. I wanted drips and dribbles.
Now I am left with basically a toned surface with hints of poppies. I decided it need to have some depth and air. So I put in some distant trees and sky. Ahhhh much better! (see photo at top for the finished painting)
3. Usually wiping down a painting or spraying it with fixative is enough to give me a chance to reassess my concept and come up with a new plan. What is the third thing I try? Some may say that is to Throw the painting in the trash. That works. Remove the failed painting and move on. I am usually too stubborn to do that. I don't like a painting to get the best of me but it is a good option if it allows you to get back to the easel with a fresh start!
Oh my goodness....comforting to know even the pros have difficulty at times. I love how you reworked this!
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen. Interesting to see how such a beautiful piece started with you not liking it so much.
ReplyDeleteI read this in Segei Bongart's book,
ReplyDelete" when you don't know what to do next, simplify".
I've been using this advice lately and am amazed how it has helped me save a wayward painting!
Thanks for all your great advice, Karen!
Thanks for sharing this! So timely after a weekend of challenging painting! Good to know even the pros deal with this!
ReplyDeleteHooray, it isn't just me!! Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDelete