Niece Jenny, Me and Overworking the Work

So been working on my grape painting.  I came to this and have signed it.  Something Niece Jenny said has been nagging at me though.  She liked this painting a couple days ago before additional paint and color was added.  And truthfully, maybe I have gotten to a more realistic place which is where I did not want to go, I was thinking I was abstracting and fracturing more.

 So let's compare side by side.  Do we like the first interpretation before all the work I did?  It's okay if you do, I just want some opinions for my future paintings.  Maybe I'm overworking the work if you know what I mean.  I kinda like them both, colors changed which was not a conscious intention either.

Please comment on FB or on my blog.  I appreciate the help, really I do.  I'll be breathing easier after I see some comments, lol.

Begin again, Fracturing, and the Rain

 So after kicking myself in the arse on Sunday morning, I began another landscape in the afternoon.  It's a big canvas and I used acrylics to do my drawing of a pathway here in our neighborhood which is actually a preserved area for wildlife, birds and vernal pools in the winter.  There is a bridge over a small creek which I will place in the painting later.

I also worked on a few paintings that have been hanging around and needed some detail.  Here is one I began a couple of weeks ago of grapes.

I'm trying out a new technique which is called fracturing by an artist I follow on her blog. She begins her painting as always, then gently removes paint in slashing motions with a kind of squeegee tool.  Here is my attempt after drawing the grapes in and then using the tool.  What a mess!

Here are the grapes again after going in with more dark values, fracturing and explaining the grapes a little more, and placing some lighter value into the surrounding leaves.

Ok, so I've got some work to do.  It's a rainy afternoon, I've got my windows open though to keep cool in this tropical storm...perfect for painting.

Painting, Arranging Furniture and Anyone for a Ciggy?

So this Sunday morning I am very interested in this catalogue for summer  art supplies offering 70% off.  I look at the ad for sketch pads and am thinking I need a sketch pad, then I glance over at my window seat and see that I haven't completed the one I began in January; and I mean well it's almost full but not really so then I ask myself, do I think that by buying sketch pads somehow that completes the task of sketching a whole pad(?).  If I buy the canvas, does that complete any part of my creating process?  No, no, a thousand times no.  What am I waiting for and why haven't I created in a month?

I think I'm just lazy and have been feeling more comfortable changing the furniture in the living room and gardening.  But am I too hard on myself and just needed a break from paint, from shopping, from people?  Do I really just need a cigarette?  Smiling all over the place, and maybe I'm ready today to put a first attempt on one of these large, heavy duty canvasses I bought a while back.

Dunno, but when I look at how the nicely the furniture is arranged in the living room...I breathe, 1, 2, 3, I breathe...