3:53 PM: i asked mikela to walk over & give me some feedback. she found that the upper portion of the painting was too busy. too many japanes letters, which strated to take away rather than add to the harmony of the composition. since they were all freshly painted, it was easy to take many of them out, and she was right; it helped a lot, as you will observe in the comparative images BELOW. before the changes is on the LEFT.
in addition, she suggested continuing the yellow ochre marks on the bottom out to the right; another excellent observation!
1:47 PM: i continued painting 6/19/22 tokyo drummer, adding more japanese letters, more lights to the garb of the drummer and shading to his bald head. as a result, the image pops more than before and, at the same time, is more integrated into the composition as a whole.
the japanese letters now covering parts of his upper body as well as the shading on his head play an important role.
11:34 AM: this morning i continued work on the upper quadrant of 6/19/22 tokyo drummer.
i’m going to have to sit with it for a bit and have mikela take a look to decide if it’s resolved or needs more work. it reads pretty well from a distance, but i just realized i took the composition to the edges in spots, which won’t allow space to stretch it. that required about 2” on all sides. so either i’ll have to show oit as is, tacked to the wall or mount it on plywood…we’ll see.