painting crisis - Sunday October 4 1998    

I've been working on the above acrylic painting for about two weeks. I'd add a few plants now and then and then stop, unhappy with both my progress and the overall direction of the composition. Tonight, though, I took radical action that I'd been considering for days. In the unfinished lower right hand sector (which had been a thin wash of black), I started painting turquoise water. For a time I was a most embarrassed with the damage I was doing. Kim was checking her email at the time and I was concerned she'd turn around and see the horrible things I was doing. Originally the sandy beach was a cliff, you see, but it just wasn't working out spatially. So, with a few changes, I began to redefined the space. Somehow my gamble paid off and I was delighted with the results. All it needed now were a few details and adjustments. As usual, I celebrated my success with vodkatea.

Kim thinks I should paint another panel with the mirror image of the above painting to make a diptych. It's a good idea and in fact I have done such things before; compare Spotted with Distant Music on a Warm Spring Evening.