Angry Painting

Sometimes I sit down to paint something nice (why would you intend otherwise?), and the result is just bad. Being human, it's easy to get frustrated, or even downright angry. After the failed painting I posted earlier this evening (which has since been scribbled out and thrown in the trash), I had one of these angry moments.

I picked up a brush and used whatever I had on the palette to do this mess: (the Cowboys were beating the Patriots in overtime at the same time...this didn't help my mood).

Angry Painting, Take 1 (oils on canvas panel, 8 by 8)

Yuck. But maybe salvageable. So I cleaned up and defined what I guess might be a tree, and another little tree next to it.

Play Time, Take 2 (oils on canvas panel, 8 by 8)

That's a little better. Perhaps if we put these trees on a recognizable ground...

Play Time, Take 3 (oils on canvas panel, 8 by 8)

Better still. Maybe at this point, just add some darks to define the trees a little bit better, add some bright greens and yellows to define the ground...

Play Time, Take 4 (oils on canvas panel, 8 by 8)

So...a strange evening's painting. I set out intending to do one thing, and hated the result. Got frustrated, splashed some paint around, saw the possibilities in this impromptu mess, and ended up with a little painting that I like quite a bit. A takeaway from this for me to remember is that the final "Take 4" version of this little painting has some incredibly thick paint application, and it works really well...