Push and Pull
A little of this and a little of that — this composition has a lot of detail and I’m deciding what should stay and what should be tied together. And the truth is that I’ve left a lot of detail out already! There are so many decisions to be made while painting and those decisions are where 90% of the painting is done.
My first concern is the overall impression - are my shapes interesting and do I WANT to look at this painting. Where does the eye go and is that what I want to emphasize. A perfect replica of the sugar mill would be boring but I want to capture enough of the structure for it to intrigue the viewer. As I develop, every decision impacts another area of the painting — if one area is darkened then another area is suddenly too bright. I knock the bright area back and suddenly ANOTHER area is too bright. And so it goes….so much happens as a reaction to what was done fifteen minutes ago
I think the trick is to react to what is on the board at that moment — not to what I expected to be there or what is on my reference photo. The longer I work, the more the painting is taking on it’s own mood and statement. It’s a moving target until one day I think I might be there. It feels close. Then I stop painting. Right or wrong, I stop.
But I’m not stopping yet. This one has a little way to go. And the hundred decisions I make in a painting day are what it’s about. THAT’S painting.
