Time to put the brushes down and start the preparations for Turkey Day. I worked (again) on the face, trying to get a good likeness and feeling like it's looking better. Also worked on skin tones of various pedestrians. I am avoiding the extreme tedium that awaits in painting the window lines on the buildings.
I wanted to do more work on the gelato and chocolate in the center of this very oversized, bumpy-edged plate, but now I've got the black background all wet. Will have to move on to something else.
Since Thursday will be a food feast, I'm trying to get as much done as possible, beforehand. Last one for today:
This one, like five others, is getting closer and closer to being done. I feel much more positive than I did yesterday morning.
The solidly black area behind the man sitting at the right needs to be painted correctly; I have to figure out where the back of his chair is, exactly, and how to differentiate the color of his jacket from the chair. But I did make some progress.
I rarely go back to work on something I've already posted, but it just seemed like a good idea to work on those green rings today instead of tomorrow:
I put the finishing touches on the cake today. All that's left now is two or three sessions on those green rings.
I've been disappointed with the fact that the shady areas of the water don't project its depth; floating a wash of turquoise over the duller greens is bringing them to life. I just hope I didn't overdo it.
I also decided to use a flatter brush and a more horizontal stroke on the tree foliage after looking at the work of a painting friend of mine.
So, as the day wore on, I did get back into the zone. Here are the four pieces from the rest of the day:
Not bad! I finally got the odd purple-blue color right. And the neck of the bottle is more visible.
I don't know why I love this painting so much, but I do.
As with the Merlot piece, I finally got the bluish sweater to work. How many times have I painted it in the past? At least twenty? But now I like it and I think the light on the shoulder works well.
Last but not least, fun with the pinpoints of light on the sputnik globes. I'll get back to this tomorrow.
Back when I was anxiously preparing for the art festival, I made a mistake with the satin varnish: I didn't shake the bottle before applying a layer to this painting, and when the varnish dried, it left white patches here and there. I was able to clean off most of them, but some tiny particles settled into some deeper spots in the canvas. So today I repainted, trying to match the colors as closely as possible, because it's a pretty decent painting overall, and I didn't want to ruin the subtlety of the color changes.
After a short break, I thought I'd try to change a few things in the rug. The rug is proving to be a lot of trouble, a real stumbling block in the way of making any real progress on this piece. I've decided to stare at it for a few days and come up with a better solution; most likely, a different pattern.
I've really been struggling lately with painting; most of the time I just don't feel like doing it. Sometime after noon today I did pick up a brush and start slowly on the only thing that interested me: getting the door finished. It's not, of course, but it might be the next ime I work on it or the time after that.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to concentrate on finishing 6 or 7 pieces by the year's end.
Here's today's work. I do like the way the profiteroles look, and they're fun to paint.
Profiteroles, © 2021, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
