Had a really bad day painting last Thursday – lots of self doubt about what I was doing and why, figuration versus non-figuration, etc. This all while painting Sizewell Power Station from the beach on a canvas which seemed a bit large for me. The resultant painting is on the subject of “Why do we still have nuclear power stations after Fukoshima?” It is figurative and has morphed through various phases. I took the foreground out progressively and added waves all around as I felt that this leant it more meaning. I think the waves in the foreground could be choppier as they were in an earlier phase. I’m not happy with the painting and reckon that I should work non-figuratively – I need to think about this some more. Also, although I’m still going to work in different sized canvasses to increase my experience, right now I prefer working on small to medium sized surfaces.
Image 1 came first and I reckon I should have stopped there. Images 2 and 3 are details which might have made better images – I need to plan more before starting painting. Image 4 added detail to the foreground which I thought was too pretty and negated the meaning. Image 5 is the final version. Still not happy….
