9.01.2017

false starts


late night petunia studies after going to the fair

My friend invited me to go to the fair with her today - the Minnesota State Fair.  It's a huge deal here - we call it the great Minnesota get-together. 

Our first stop was the Miracle of Birth Center where we watched piglets suckling, newborn goats pouncing and freshly hatched chicks huddling in fluffy-fuzzy masses.  It's the most popular exhibit at the fair so it started to get crowded pretty quickly.  After that, we were off to see the quilts, woodworking, fine arts, flowers, apples, Christmas trees, seed art, etc.

It was dinner time when I finally got home - and 7 pm when I finally had some time to paint.  Now it's midnight - so somewhere in the past five hours I've struggled to set-up a still life where I could sit at my easel (too tired to stand tonight.)  Tried something new - a black support of discarded mat board (failure because it blistered right away.)  Started again on my old-stand-by board - that must've been around 10.

Long story short: I really like the top "painting" which I needed to abort because the mat board started blistering.  Mat board isn't made for water media - I knew I was taking a chance.

The subsequent painting is okay - but in my mind I keep comparing it to the false start and wondering why I favor the first one so much. 

Time for bed - maybe if I sleep on it I'll find some answers.

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