Starting Over

So, remember that piece that I was working on in my last post...well, I wasn't completely pleased with how it was turning out, so I decided to start it over. The paper I was working on was too big and just wrong, and I wasn't feeling good about it. When I looked at the piece and then looked at the photograph, I just wasn't feeling it. It didn't have the right emotion to me. And it felt a little forced. Of course, these all could just be my perfectionist tendencies coming through, but I felt the painting was headed in the wrong direction, so I started it over again.

I had mentioned that I was having trouble getting back into rendered paintings because I hadn't done them in a while. I think the main problem for me in that painting was I hadn't drawn out in pencil all the forms correctly, looking at them closely, studying them. So I started over, on my small hot press block. This time, I looked at each form closely and drew it out in pencil, but was careful not to make it look too mechanical. One of the things about my work, is that I don't want it to look like I drew the lines with a ruler.

It may not be important for everyone to draw out every little detail when they start a painting, but it was for me for this because I wanted to get it right. Not hyper-realistic right, but I didn't want the painting to lack anything, even though it is small. I want this to be, like, this precious little painting because the memories I have of Maine are precious. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

Then I made a decision to use Walnut ink in this piece. The last time I used Walnut in was in Watercolor 202 last Fall semester. I have no clue why I haven't used it since. It is wonderful. It gives kind of an antiqued look to a painting and is remarkable (as I realized when I did my Briar Rose piece) for rendering woodgrain! Well, what is more woodgrainy than an old wooden barn in Maine?

And of course, I do plan to go over this with water and paint once I am done inking. I like how it is turning out so far.

Let me know what you all think.