Monday, March 30, 2009

Ah-huh! and OMG!!!


I am learning how to paint.

For a few months now I have been working on this 'flower explosion' painting. I huge 4 foot by 3 foot painting of a photo I took of some lilies in a local park. A very close-in shot, painted much larger than life.

I struggled and struggled with this painting. The compostion was great and I loved the colours but something had been bothering about it since I started it and today it finally hit me....

I HATE THE SMELL OF THESE LILIES!

One whiff, instant headache. Once I had this revelation, I could barely look at the painting without getting that 'lily headache' feeling. The psychological effect was that strong.

So, what to do... what to do...

I whipped-out the gesso (acrylic primer) and lilies, their 'stink' and many painting hours, be gone! Gulp! OMG, what have I done?

=:-o

Back to square one and literally a blank canvas...

9 comments:

  1. creativity is a cruel mistress....................

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  2. Ooo, you've gone all dark and I think it's a cover up!

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  3. Might this go some way to explaining the switch to a black background for your blog?

    Desperate times call for desperate measures. :-)

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  4. I once had to bin a year's work, you'll live and the next iteration will be better.

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  5. I'm allergic to lilies too. Maybe you can use the same idea but with a different flower? It sounds like an interesting concept.

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  6. btw, black, no, not good, white better. just my opinion, that's all

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  7. Well, it was a desparate measure. Next time, perhaps sell or give away the painting to someone who loves the smell of lilies, and buy a new canvas? I hate the idea of killing a painting. Now where can we see some paintings you DO like?

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  8. Wow, I don't know if I could've done that! I have a hard enough time just deleting a crappy photo.

    Oh, and I like the black background :)

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