We all have those painting days!
Not every completed painting has to be shown. I’ve recently finished a painting of a girl with a very attractive and interesting face, however it may not fit with the overall tone of the work I have been doing. The source photograph showed the girls face with all of its strength, the problem was with translating this into paint.
Firstly I tried layers of strongly blocked in paint but this didn’t work, it lacked subtlety. Then more blending and realism was tried which rectified this, but the painting still lacked life. The eyes seemed to be the problem, they were rather flat, so more realism, more tones and small highlights were added.
This cured the lifelessness of the eyes but not my dissatisfaction with the painting. It seemed with corrections made it was then too polished. The technique of tearing away layers of the cardboard was tried to bring a little more texture and roughness to the work.
This changed the look, but not the tone. The girl does indeed have a strong face, however when translated into paint and painted to an acceptable technical standard her glamour overwhelmed this strength, overwhelmed the subject matter and to me, became the major and perhaps only feature of the painting, there didn’t seem to be anything else there.
It certainly didn’t fit with the tone of my chosen subject matter and I’m not sure if I want to show a painting where beauty is the only feature. After all the work, I’ve had to walk away and accept this painting as a failure.
