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| Charcoal Compositional Sketch 18" x 24" |
It could have been the tinnitus, but the voice was persistent. "Just paint"
I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled down cellar to my studio where I had previously taped four blank note cards to my easel.
For a host of reasons, I've been unable to paint for quite awhile - too long for my liking. But where to start? "Just paint"
Many years ago on Paris Hill a particularly striking sunset looking west from the village green beyond Hannibal Hamblin's house to the mountains beyond was seared into my mind. It was breathtaking.... I soaked up every minute of that sunset.
"Just paint"
I did a few quick Pen and Ink compositional drawings and then broke out some gouache and did these four quick compositional studies. From the top left to right - sketches 1,2, and 4 were closest to the actual scene as it was. Three was a combination of the scene with a cloudscape at sunset from a different time and location. 
The color was way off (off-full you might say) but for my purposes it didn't really matter. I just needed to push some paint around and work out a few ideas that though they would not be exact representations of the scene but that would capture the feelings it provoked in me.
In looking at the sketches - a combination of numbers two and three let to this larger charcoal sketch (18" by 24") which will be the basis for a finished painting
These are all quite loose for sketches, but each one informs me a bit more and helps me catch errors in composition before being heavily involved with the final painting.
I thank God I'm no longer held captive by the thought that each and every painting and drawing must be perfect and "finished." It relieves so much unrealistic self imposed stress to not make any "mistakes." I wish I'd figured that out well before my mid 40's
Each and every effort informs the next one and so on.
Just Paint!
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