Monday, February 27, 2012

NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE PRESSURE...



Well, I overworked Caw Girl #1, trying to fix a few things I didn't like.  So...I've started over, thinking about background first (like Carol Carter does) and leaving the figure for last.  Here's the old one (really overworked but it doesn't look so bad in the photo - but trust me, it's bad and I couldn't put that in a show!); and the new start. 

New one = full sheet (30 h x 22 w).





I have until tomorrow to finish it, if I really want to try to get in early for the juried show.  Of course, I could just take my time and take the pressure off and enter in March (like most people will do).  And that would give me enough time to see which one I like the best (and if I like the old girl best, I could redo another just like it only better).

How do people who do commissions deal with the pressure?  I don't like it.








5 comments:

RH Carpenter said...

This juried show is judged based on the matted and framed work which you take in - so I think I've decided to just do one and that's Primarily Crows since I'm unsure how the Caw Girl will turn out plus I liked the previous design with the white bg better (I just hated that hair!) May just do a few Caw Girls to have for next time a show comes up :)

Unknown said...

If you don't like short deadlines and the pressure they bring ignore them. Do your paintings in your own time and decide when they are finished. You are the first person to make a decision as to whether you like your work or not. I always think that working to an audience with judges or buyers needs a special kind of mental approach which can get in the way of making satisfying images.

RH Carpenter said...

Mick, I liked that painting of the Caw Girl and wanted it to be better so, fiddling created more paint and more fiddling and soon it was overworked and tired (not that she didn't look a bit overworked and tired to begin with but that's another story! ha ha). So... I'm not painting for this show, just wanted the best painting of the Caw Girl I could enter and it didn't work. So...one entry is fine and it's not at the framer's (the entry has to be judged in person). And you're right, pressure can get in the way of making the best decisions. Better to stand back and breathe through it and not let it get to be pressure.

Harry Kent said...

Hey, stop picking on Caw Girl. I think it's great. The cawing trio is clever, the brids in the foreground sinister, the figure troubling in her intensity. An edgy work full of interest.

Yes, when to stop, that is the question. To my taste, esp with watercolor, better sooner rather than later. Better a bit imperfectly raw and underdeveloped yet fresh and immediate. But there's also tons of folks who like things fully resolved.

In any event, i like Caw Girl!

RH Carpenter said...

Harry, I wanted her to look a bit tired - but not the paint! I will do this one again as it does speak to me in some way without a background at all - just her and the crows.