Tweaks to “Expanding”

I haven’t had a lot of art time beyond what I’ve spent updating a mailing list for an art organization I belong to.  However, I’ve taken some much needed breaks from that to tweak “Expanding” and I thought I’d share that with you today. 

As I left this on Saturday I felt that the notable shape in the top left wasn’t integrated with the rest of the piece.  The circles were isolated there, the color was isolated there [altho only 3 colors are used throughout], and that shape was just so OTHER. 

Here’s the old version below…  I pushed the blue back to a greener color with a glaze of Quin gold.  I gave the implied circles some company but they are opaque and their size and color varies.  Then I provided a path for the eye to move out of the bottom of the greenish blue shape in the top left.  These few changes have made me feel a bit more like living with this one for a while.  Time will tell.

I’ve got to share a few other things that I’ve been working on that I’m excited about.  As you’ve heard me say many times, I want to paint bigger.  To that end I’ve been challenging myself by buying larger canvasses.  This week I took out a 24”x36” gallery style canvass and began another painting in the same color scheme as “Expaning”.  I laid in the first loose color layer and I’ll be working on this one for a while.  Here’s the first layer:

I’m fascinated by working with this canvas!  There’s so much room to work that going back to the smaller ones, although still fun, just isn’t the same…  hmmm, this could get expensive!  Happy Family Day [if you’re in Alberta anyhow]!