Balancing Act

Funny thing is that I almost gave up on this one.

This painting was a mess. Really. 

I was completely stuck and didn't know where to go. It was all muddy and gray and showed the indecisiveness that I had painted with. I didn't have a clear intention when I started and that was painfully obvious now. This wasn’t the messy middle - this was just a mess.

So there it sat in the corner- glaring at me and egging me on but not telling me what to do.  I put it on the naughty shelf and left it alone for a while hoping that if we both took some time things would be clearer. But things didn’t get any clearer. 

It sat for quite a while and I almost forgot about it. Every once in a while I would catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and I could hear it mournfully saying, “C’mon, are you really giving up on me?”

Finally, I took it off the shelf and we took a hard look at each other.  “Just make some decisions, woman!” it yelled at me.  Okay, okay I thought.  What are you trying to say? Is there anything that’s working? There was one area that I really loved.  It was made up of collage, old papers and memorabilia.  There was a depth and richness to that area that I found really interesting. Sometimes when I fall in love with one area of a painting, I try to make the rest work around it but it’s futile. This time I got lucky. That one little corner helped lead the way and encouraged me not to abandon the piece entirely.

I took out a bright orange and glazed over the whole thing.  Wow!  That shook things up.  It certainly wasn’t ‘fixed’ but at least I had something to work against. The glaze made things feel more cohesive and lent a new vibrancy to the piece.  Next step was to bridge the composition.  All the shapes were similar and they didn’t draw the eye around.  Connecting some shapes and editing out others helped things begin to come together.  I kept at it until an entirely new piece emerged. 

And all the working and reworking led to a painting with lots of history and dimension. 

Painting is a constant balancing act - warm and cool colors, big and little shapes, digging in and letting go - trying to make it all work.  It’s just like life. It takes time and perseverance to work things out.  Glad I stuck with this one.  It truly was a Balancing Act.

Before - the mess

After - The finished painting.

Balancing Act, Emerging Artist Award Winning piece.