Exhausted

I've spent the last several days in front of the TV, following the news about the inhumane and disgusting policy of separating immigrant children from their parents. I've written to a number of Republican legislators and the RNC, and apparently so have a lot of other Americans who have a conscience. Hopefully, things will change soon as the president has given in to criticism and has just signed an executive order.

In the meantime, it's been hard to concentrate on thinking about art. It takes time to get one's thoughts together. In my case, the thinking about art has to be sustained and linear, if you can follow that. Distractions break the train of thought, whether you're trying to think about a color palette or a new series of images. I finally got back to the easel after a week of no painting, and yet the distractions continue.

Here's today's work:

Selfies, © 2018, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

The work on Selfies was mostly in the upper left-hand corner and the left side. I think it's going well.

 

Finding A Shell, © 2018, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

I keep going back and forth over the shallow water on this one; the way I'd originally relied on the natural taper of the brush really wasn't communicating the truth of the way the water looks— the openings in the foamy surface are more rounded than tapered. And some of the surface catches more light, while slightly deeper areas need to be a bit bluer to project the sense of moving water.

 

There's a fair amount of green and blue in the skin tones, too. Again, I'm satisfied with the progress. Taking a break now.