This piece really bugged me because of so much tweaking to get the figures close to an accurate gesture. Rendering like this makes me hate art, but I manage to get sucked into it every time--remind any of you of anybody you know? I think the head of the lady in the middle is one of the best I have done. The effect of light is a big fat value chase combined with grey and saturation--a la Sorolla but I keep Potthast and Benson in mind as well--anything to hinder originality--O well. I often crap out in dark values and fail to lift the lights high enough while holding on to some color--by that I mean I spend so much time building toward the lights that I am sick and tired of the project and just what to "get it out" and fail to put the "kill" on the work--the thing that gives it snap--you real oil painters out there know what I mean--who loves ya?
After a year or so of raising my grandkids I am getting the system down and am building toward 8 hour painting days--something I haven't done since the 80's--I have already lived longer than Sorolla and Sargent and still haven't done squat--according to a recent health questionnaire I filled out--one which predicts one's longevity according to the answers to questions like--do you floss?--I am supposed to be dead at 68--two more years. Don't you love it? When asked--Hatfield are you going deef (deaf)? I love to reply--I have heard enough! I have also seen enough but don't look forward to blindness. Anyway painting is still a dear old friend and probably will be to the end--sorry.
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