Kitty Kat, Wimpy Emotions, and Simplicity

Originally this canvas was an abstract painting which included a cat, various washes and textures created by affixing a 30x22" acrylic painting to the host canvas.  I liked my original work however I couldn't get it to be beyond a wimpy illustration of some wimpy emotion I had felt, so last week decided to create another version of an original composition I created last year.   This is a wrap-around canvas, 30x40".

To the left is the original sketch which I did on a small 16x20" canvas during a workshop with Gregory Kondos.  I walked outside of the large classroom at Lake Folsom College and to my left were buildings and this area of 6 trees, just neutrals and greens.

After his teachings, my compositions have become very simple and easy.  No need for crazy Mexican colors and/or too much of everything...simple Bobbie, simple, and breathe.

To the right is my original abstract cat painting on paper which was affixed to the canvas.  This work has probably 20 washes of pigment on it, various stampings and other texture treatments.  However after so much work, the painting just didn't reflect anything beyond some wimpy feeling that somebody maybe had on a random day, in a random world, after a random experience.  So in keeping the GOAT theory, this artist covered the whole enchilada with a gesso wash and kept working.  

Note on the finished painting, I did not cover the whole canvas with opaque pigment.  I left the buildings in the texture that I had created with the cat painting.

Okay, so onto my next project.