The Road to the Lake #8

Somehow I just managed to erase this entire entry.  The few times I've done this before, I was able to get back what I had written.  Not so with this entry.   Before I begin again, though let me add a note about the size of the canvas (important information I've left out of all of my entries about my paintings); The Road to the Lake is 15" x 30".

 

Suffice it to say, that despite my promise to myself, this painting is still not finished.  It was close, very, very close when I finished painting over the weekend.  Except at the end of the session when I had the following on my canvas,

I had a sudden revelation.  The shadows which I so dearly loved, were all wrong for the painting.  Almost everything I loved, the need for them in this composition, the ultramarine blue of them, the stark reality of them, was all that was wrong with them.  The only thing that was right was the need for them.  Every time I looked at the painting I hoped I would find that I was wrong, but every time, they sat there sullenly as though to say, "So, what d'ya want us to do about it?"

 

As I dragged this mumbling, sneering canvas into class, Sharon asked what I thought about my work now.  I told her.  She looked at me and said calmly, "You're right."

Grumble, grumble.  I went to work.  Did I start with the road?  Oh no.  More light on the distant mountain.  Small tree to left of farmhouse is less a contender for Christmas tree of the year, and its shadow is diminished.  More dark green in the leaves on the tree on the right.  Far end of the left side of the road given some definition.  Other pootling little things. All of that needed to be done, but you know what I was avoiding, "The SHADOW knows!"

 

Finally, I started working from the inside of the shadows out. Actually, I should have done it the other way around - worked from outside in - but no, I was going to make this as difficult as possible.

 

You know what the worst part is, don't you.  Even in its unfinished state (and in this photograph, out of focus - sorry!), it's already better.  Grrr!