Donation continued/Phase 5&6
Phase 5
Time to try to be bold -- try to go dark and try to introduce a new color -- but maybe I didn't go bold enough because I was married to the transparent washes and unwilling to commit to really dark (like black) and unwilling to commit to a new color (something blue). So another day of panic.
The colors I chose to mix were: my warm yellow with a drop of black and lots of medium -- making chartreuse, my warm orange with a drop of white and medium -- making creamsicle, and I chose a pale teal blue that I used un-toned but with lots of medium. The idea was to do groupings of triangle elements in different places around the panels. As soon as the creamsicle went on I was concerned. It looked like flesh. The chartreuse and pale teal were so watered down that they barely registered. Four coats later I hated what I'd added. The shapes weren't crisp. Paints had run. They colors and tones didn't harmonize. And in a few places I had managed to "damage" the surface of other blocks of color making what I thought were unsightly gashes. (I can over dramatize at moments!) For some reason I thought taking a sponge and trying to add dark spots of texture would have hide these gashes. Very little thought here -- just reaction. And by the time I'd finished I thought the whole thing was destroyed and looking muddy.
Phase 6
So now what?
Another lattice -- this time with triangle cut outs in a wash of a transparent dark red. I considered blue -- like cobalt blue or something even darker -- but wasn't ready to go that far -- will I ever?
It certainly made the panels look busy, but it did tie the creamsicle, chartreuse, and teal elements that I thought were just floating into the world and I like what is happening on the outside edge of the green vertical lines (I think it was time something happened there.)
I sent a picture of it to a friend whose opinion I value. His comment was "ok you're starting to come upon something much more interesting." And here I thought I was getting close to being finished. I decided to take a day off and come back to it with fresh eyes. I'm sure I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a new inspiration -- or at least that's what I'm counting on. The question I'm grappling with is how do I give it a "focus" even though I believe that a successful abstract painting asks your eye to keep moving over the surface and not rest any one place for too long.