There's nothing like the moment I can finally step away from a canvas and say, "It's done." Some times are easier than others. My professors at SCU used to have to tell me to put my brush down and leave it alone. With no one here to tell me that, my perfectionism can run rampant. But I'm getting better at knowing when to stop making adjustments and just let a piece be.
Remember the painting I used as my example for how pieces sometimes start out ugly?
Right. That one.
It went through several more stages of gnarly development. More than most of my pieces, I would say. I do a lot of things that have multiple parts, pieces, or layers. But this one was unique in two ways. First, its size. At 4'x3', this is the biggest canvas I've worked on to date, which brings unique challenges to the table. Second, each umbrella is separate unique, and made up of straight lines. I hate straight lines. I am much more comfortable manipulating the curves of apples that nestle up against each other than I am trying to negotiate multiple geometric shapes and their shadows and how they'd all look next to each other.
So this one stayed ugly for awhile.
Until I started breaking it down. Once I decided to take one little section at a time instead of jumping around, things started going much better.
The "ah-hah!" section
But still took quite a long time to get settled
Finally, after months of marching my way across the canvas and tweaking little things, I am declaring this behemoth finished. It's for my mom's dining room. I hope she likes it.
It's done!