September 03, 2011 02:27PM
Nests in Progress
What a mess! Three days, gesso, underpaint, and two layers of oil wash for this, and I don't even know what the final outcome will be - but maybe I'm not supposed to write that. You never really know until you decide that one more drop of paint will make the piece muddy, and therefore force yourself to stop. The risk of not being a planning painter is that paintings might turn out to be complete flops, but when I plan a piece to the end before I've even started I've taken the oomph out of the process, and it feels way too much like a job. Relax! Go with the flow! Not my personality in the other areas of my life since I like to know exactly what's going to happen, but the philosophy works with paint.