Snippet Sunday - Underpainting

[wayfaringwordhack]

Art is partly communication, but only partly. The rest is discovery. -William Golding, novelist, playwright, poet, Nobelist (1911-1993)

The above is a quote that I received in my inbox.  Very apt as I'm working on my painting and am a bit terrified of moving on (read: messing up). I thought I had a better paint selection on hand than what I actually have, so now the question is: Continue with the discovery or put progress on hold until I buy more paint.  My creative impulse is telling me to 'Get out and make your own discoveries!*' but my mind is screaming, "Don't you dare ruin it!"

In any case, I have the underpainting done in raw umber and burnt sienna:




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*Paraphrasing Dr. Scott, who, at the end of each episode of the cartoon "Dinosaur Train," encourages kids to:  "Get outside, get into nature and make your own discoveries!"

Comments

[frigg.livejournal.com]

It's beautiful so far. :)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I like it, too, which is why I really, really don't want to mess it up. :P But only by having the courage to make mistakes can we learn.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It really looks gorgeous just as it is. Could it be called done just as is? And then start another one on the same theme--even same pose, same image--that you'd do in color? If Monet can do haystacks in different light, etc., why not you, with S?

But I don't wish to discourage risk taking, either--go for it, if that's what you decide!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I like the way it is shaping up, but I would have made different decisions (like the lack of detail in the hair--on the crown, especially--and the flowers) if I planned to leave it. Right now it is nice as a base to build up, methinks.

And yes to the Monet idea! I am working on very cheap canvas with cheap paints, so it isn't like I'm doing it for posterity. I want to learn and improve, and making mistakes through playing with my medium is the way to do that. So paint it I shall. And then I'll paint it again and maybe even again. :D