3:32 PM: just wrapped it up for the day. we did our trail walk at 7 this morning, so it was a long day.i went back & forth between these two paintings, and made quite a few changes. not sure if they’re for the better. maybe.
I worked mostly on the right portion of 8/24/2021 painting/collage. at the moment, gazing at it from 20 feet, it looks like it’s improved. it was challenging, because this was a painting that just popped out & it was beautiful, but that right section , although it did “work” being as bare as it was, ended up feeling like I copped out & needed to dive back in. here’s the before & after photos; what do you think?
tokyo olympics 1 was inspired by a series of photos I shot on the tv screen, of the final celebrations of the tokyo olympics. the figure on the left, of the red haired kid paddling his skiff, derives from a series of photos I shot 3 or 4 years ago from a bridge in alamosa, 50 miles south of us. I think the addition of the dancing girl with the plaid shorts, on the right, with that area of red behind her, adds significantly to the overall composition. that makes me feel justified in painting into that pregnant, appealing white space.
tokyo olympics 1 at the end of my painting day today
tokyo olympics 1
8/24/2021 painting/collage was tricky to go back into. that pregnant white space on the right seemed like sacred ground, and it was with trepidation that I dared mess with it. as I gaze at it form 20 feet, I think I made the right decision. the red on the right of the dancing girl with the plaid shorts adds to the whole composition, and gives meaning to john russell’s ny times review, where he says: ”he makes us wonder what his people get up to when they aren’t in the picture…”
8/24/2021 painting/collage at the end of my painting day today
8/24/2021 painting/collage as it looked this morning before starting to modify it