Crown Grove - Not always a clear path

Crown Grove
17 x 28 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$1075

Some paintings take longer than others. I frankly thought this one would never be finished. And when it was I tried to find out when I started it. Seems as if it sat around on my work space forever. The below photograph was from December 23, 2016 when I was cleaning up the studio.

In the beginning sometime in November 2016?

At that point it was just watercolor. And there were parts I really liked about that but I just could not figure out where I was going with it. To the far right of this photograph above there is another painting I began around the same time and could not, and have not, finished.

I have two new small canvases stretched and figured maybe I should finish what I started before beginning something new. I have begun and finished maybe three paintings with Crown Grove staring at me.

Filling in the aspens with pen and ink trunks and oil stick crowns

An artist friend and I were talking about her painting over old paintings. It is something those who work in acrylic and oil can do easily. But I figured I might be able to rescue this painting with oil sticks. At least I could play around with that. If it failed what was the loss? I stretch my own canvas so when a painting totally fails I pull the old canvas off and stretch new canvas.

I find myself adding more oil stick work to my mixed media paintings. They add texture and depth to a work. I love watercolors especially for skies and backgrounds. They cover a lot of canvas quickly especially when I pour them.

I began using oil stick for foregrounds in my mustang paintings because of the texture and movement they added.

Putting in some grasses

Filling in the foreground

Adding shadows in the distant grove and on the pond

None of the background colors were changed from the original watercolor. The colors appear different because of the addition of the foreground colors and adding white oil stick to the clouds with touches of gray, yellow and rose.

Finished piece with more red in the tops of the aspens

So there is now one less painting sitting on my work space unfinished. Not too sure about the other one. It may just get new canvas.