Hatch Shell - 8"x10"

From Small Works

I knew there'd come a day, but I didn't think it would happen so fast into my little small works experiment here - a day when nothing works no matter what you do to it. So I'm breaking a TINY rule. I'm going to call this "not quite done". Of course, if someone wants to buy it, shee-it...I won't touch a thing. But I'm gonna break out some oil pastels as soon as this thing starts drying.

I was thinking about Boston today and ran across a photo my sister had taken of the skyline when I lived there (I believe it's from the Bunker Hill Bridge), so I decided to do a rough skyline painting. The sketch went in well, and then...the paint just piled. And piled. And piled. I had to take a rag and wipe some of it off, actually, and then about five minutes before my hour was up, I worked feverishly to get to SOME sort of point of "closure". I finished, and wasn't HORRIBLY upset with it, and went downstairs to get the camera. When I returned, I picked the canvas up...and it fell. Face down. It was already a bit "painterly", but it looked WORSE. So I got out an old tortillon (a rolled piece of paper that forms a point, sort of looks like a pencil but with no lead, just paper) and carved some lines in the paint. I decided to stop and then come back in later and use the oil pastels. I hate doing this, because I really want to make my brushwork stronger. I'm more classically and technically trained in drawing, so I feel like I'm taking the easy way out if I bust out the more drawing oriented tools, but at this point, whatever. I considered just trashing the whole thing, but I decided that I need to post this for my own good. When it dries and I do the oil pastel work, I'll post the final.

I guess it just proves - everyone has a bad day at work occasionally.