Clematis in progress

Today was truly frustrating. I felt really good about the work that I had started, but nothing is working out the way that I planned. I have decided to sketch prior to painting in order to “warm up” and make good decisions in the final piece. Today I worked on three small pieces, one of which I just threw away and the other that I will keep to learn from. The last one is in progress and I think will work out okay. Even if this last one doesn’t work out, I really like the composition and the color, so I will try it again.

sketch

I am trying to not to get too tightened up about things and that usually works, but today it has all been a struggle. What I hate about that is the time devoted! I know it has to be done, and some days will just not result in work that is successful on any level. There is always tomorrow!

Flower from Kauai

My plan for tomorrow is to return to graphite only. I will do some sketches and then a finished piece or two…but restrict myself to just the graphite.

flower sketch