Second Time Around

"Winter Mist, Chain Bridge" 30x30 oil on panel

     I created this painting in March when we were experiencing another rainy, misty season but something was not quite right.  I ended up putting it away in the storage closet and forgot about it for awhile.  I took it out last week while searching for a different painting and found myself lured in with a desire to improve it. Sometimes it is a photo of a painting that tells me what is wrong with it.  In this case most of the photos I took were quite bland and I realized the painting was as well.  Then one image taken with the studio lights on made the colors much more saturated with an overall rosy cast.  I realized that what I wanted was somewhere between what existed and what I saw in that overly saturated photo.  So, back to work.
      I took my time and worked up some more transparent layers.  I added more mist rising from the Potomac and made some adjustments to the bridge.  I added more color to the tree masses. Then I propped it up for a couple of days and decided I had finished the painting!

     Sometimes it is the tougher paintings that I end up liking the most.  They are a challenge and make me work for it and when I work for it I stretch my abilities more.  I also find that my recent paintings draw on my years as an abstract painter particularly when I was working in multiple sheer layers of paint as a color field artist.

     I hope you enjoy this one!