On leaving unfinished projects behind

I began this acrylic work a few days before we left for our 3-month-long vacation. It needs about two more coats to get a little bit of the effect that I want in the finished painting. For one thing, the Daler Rowney acrylic colours are so ….. vibrant ….. I suppose. Each color is just too rich. A good artist would probably know exactly what to do with that, but for someone like me who is struggling to get shades and textures right in the short time span before the paint dries on the brush or the palette seems like a waking nightmare. The effect I was going for is supposed to be much more mellow than what you see here.

I did struggle with the depth and distance here and I had made some creditable progress in that direction. I had no time even to get one more snap before I left home to show the little bit of work I did on it after taking this one; that’s how rushed I was to pack and move.

I miss having all my stuff around me on my holidays. That is how materialistic I am. I need my bits and pieces to surround me as I work and play and feel comfortable. That is also the reason why my husband always ends up paying extra on baggage claim every time we travel. Every single time!

I was playing around with my trusty PicMonkey and just happened to click ‘black and white and I thought the effect is really lovely. I wish I had thought to do it in these wonderful shades of gray.

I wanted to emulate the feel of the cover art on the James Herriot box set by Pan books. Those were beautiful works.

I picked up this project from that wonderful book for beginners ‘Painting with Watercolors, Oils, Acrylics and Gouche’ by Wendy Jelbert,  Sarah Ainley, Ian Sidway and Simona Hill. I have picked up a lot of tips from this book over the past few years.

I miss my paint books and my brushes and my papers and canvases and my very amateur paintings.

The human condition of the grass and greenery.