On Second Thought

Last week I started the following painting and then decided that I really hated the final results. The right side looked muddied and didn't make visual sense. I had a hard time tying the elements together and it was obvious. I decided to scrap everything back to just the image of the woman and start over.

The first attempt at this painting. I don't like it.

What I went for the second version of this painting is a lot less busy, simpler, and I like it better. I'm not sure that this is done. I need to sit with it for a bit and see how I feel about it. I do like the backwards map of the US, which is backwards on purpose. Overall, I think this is a better version of the painting.

Version 2. Much better.

I also waxed the painting of the couple today and will hopefully finish it on Thursday or Friday.

In other news...I am really itching to learn something new, which is not happening with this series. In this series I am basically merging two different bodies of work and creating a new one. I'm just not satisfied with that. This body of new work isn't speaking to me the way that I had hoped. It's looking like this series is not going to make the cut, as far as what I want to do for the next year. I want to learn something new, like I did when I started the "Forgotten Memories" series and was learning how to paint people. I am thinking I'd like to do some oil paintings in color, paint people in color. I have never done that before so it will be a good challenge, which I need and want. I want to do some QUICK studies (1 per day I am in the studio) in a small format (no larger than 8"x10") and see what happens. I can't guarantee this will be my new direction for the rest of the year. We already saw how long this last style lasted. 

It's hard to figure out what to do next sometimes, especially after such a long series. I am feeling like I have multiple personalities lately and each one wants to paint differently. I'm not sure which personality will win out. This will be an interesting year...