New Orleans streetcar painting nearing completion...

It is a struggle when you get back into painting after being away for a while. And to have the pressure of making someone else happy makes it that much more intense. I went through phases with this one of thinking I was going to "chuck it" (get it, CS?) and just start over and thinking there were parts that I liked too much to do that. On this next photo (poorly lit and shiny) you can barely see the changes probably, though I did labor over them. I finally got so outdone that I actually started another painting and put this one aside.








I got up this morning and actually finished this painting first before I returned to my "streetcar named perspire" I am just a ball of laughs today! Anyway, I enjoyed doing this one and started to feel like I was not painting with my feet as I did yesterday. The title of this one is "Bar Code" It is 18x36 and will list in the gallery for $675

I finally got back to the streetcar and felt much more in control. I went back to the advice of a friend and talented artist, Julie McCartney, who says to stand back and look at your painting and work on the thing that needs work the most. Then after working that area stand back and see where you need to go next. It is a valuable lesson to remember epecially if you are like me and tend to want to work one section to perfection before moving on. So I started with the windows on the front and was able to put 2 of my "people" in there as silhouettes. I have a feeling that is not what the owner intended, but it seemed to me that when I tried to find a place to insert all three folks it just was too distracting.

This now looks like a painting of a streetcar with the correct amount of emphasis (or lack of emphasis) on other things. The person getting off of the streetcar is the important one in this saga anyway and the white dress she is wearing is one that she wore when she went out to dinner with friends a while back, so it is "historically correct". I am hoping that feature will make up for the "shadiness" of the other two cohorts. Below is a detail of this portion of the painting.

Seeing as how this is a very loose rendition of this person in keeping with the looseness of the painting I was very pleased with the likeness and recognizability of her. In person it is better than this photo, of course. And to answer the question why is she getting off the streetcar and leaving her friends? Well, she is meeting another friend for dinner and they will all meet up later for a trip to Pat O's.

I will just wait now for the owner to give his ok and then I will sign it. I wait till I am totally through with a painting before I sign it. When I do sign it it is great fun! A real feeling of accomplishement.