Onward...

I am reading a really great book on Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaccson   Da Vinci was amazing with the scope of his projects and skills.  However he did have a difficult time 'finishing' his projects.  Reading this made me feel a bit better about my sometimes painting habit of working on something then not quite calling it finished and leaving it 'for awhile'.  NOT that I am anywhere near the skill level of 'Leo' but I could totally relate to how he would often not finish a number of his projects.  He was often "stymied because his conceptions were "so subtle and so marvellous" that they were impossible to execute faultlessly. "It seemed to him that the hand was not able to attain to perfection of art in carrying out the things which he imagined" p 81

I am sure many artists out there can relate to this, in that what we envision the painting to look like just never seems to turn out the way we want.  My current struggle is with creating light in my paintings - so I am back to studying more on value and colour to try to help with this.  Below are this weeks homework for Figure Drawing class and my recent stab at 'finishing' the sleigh ride painting.

Charcoal sketch of Old Master drawing for homework

Calling it on this oil on panel

Monday, funday...

I didn't get to paint much on the weekend, but I thought about it a lot. Today I was over-thinking the horse-drawn sleigh painting.  I had decided to get rid of a fair bit of stuff - like the passengers on the sleigh and much of the harness paraphernalia as it was obscured by the steam coming off the horses. I need to let it dry up a bit and put the steam in I think and then correct the colours around it.  So I put it aside and started a small 8x8 painting of a new favourite pizza place, called The Stone and Wheel.  Was waiting for some pies the other night and liked the lighting so I snapped a photo and will try to make this one nice and loose and painterly, not dab it to death.  

sketchy stuff

adding a wash to get some values

still struggling