Other Weekend Work (11/14-15)

Friday I was supposed to meet my new painter friends from the week before in Olde Town Arvada. Friday turned out to be snowing and cold. I walked Fritz between 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Wash Park and it was amazing in its grayness. No light, but the trees were outlined in white snow, the gray sky neutralized the trees, except the bright oranges and reds and it was really quite lovely. I was determined to come back after taking snow-encrusted Fritz home and to not drive out to Arvada but to do a quick painting at any number of beautiful places I noted along the 2.5 or so mile walk. BUT, when I got home, got my gear in the ready - the darn sun was showing its face; I really did not want to paint melting snow. Melissa and Company had opted to stay indoors and paint a still life, so I then decided to stay indoors and rework my painting from the past Friday. I totally redrew/painted the street scene on top of the original. I did not get it done but it is about the same place structurally as the original with just a bit more "je ne sais quoi." Substance comes to mind. The big missing piece is just hinted here and that is the twisted umbrella of the trumpet vine that will be just about dead center of the garage roof if I can pull it off.

Saturday morning I reworked a painting my daughter has. The original was painted in or around 2004 and it is, I hope, obviously, on the left. The pale green background just did not go with her new decor in her "new" apartment yet she still liked the painting and wanted it to fit in. I offered the option of repainting the background (phew!) to fit the color scheme, and luckily, the color scheme was a neutral gray blue. Perfect for improving this painting. I spent the morning on this as since I added texture to the background to match the texture in the blossoms, I also had to paint over the other flat areas, such as the leaves, bottle and table/paper. while I was at it, I orchestrated a few of the blossoms as well. Oh my, what fun.
I will save the afternoon's touch ups for another post. When one is having this much fun, one keeps going!