Does “layered pumpkins” sound like a recipe? I guess it is a recipe for an oil painting, but I still don’t know if the efforts will be worth the finished result. Instead of trying to get this painting finished in one delusional pass over the canvas, I am building it up layer by layer. This is because I am making some stuff up and don’t know what I am trying to accomplish.

Here are the steps so far:

I started with a blue background because blue is the complementary color of orange and I thought it would be brilliant and beautiful.

 

I changed my mind and decided a dull grayish-blue would make the pumpkins look better.

Then it became apparent that the only thing to make the pumpkins look better is to work on them. In this series of photos, you might be able to see that I have worked on the pumpkins one at a time, working from left to right across the canvas. By the last photo, everything is wet and reflective, making it hard to appreciate the strong colors.

I don’t like this painting. Why not? Dunno. Can’t decide. It will need to enter an extended time-out so I can either mull it over or decide to just turn it into something else.

Maybe I’ll just start a new painting, this time of a subject that suits me better.

More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

P.S. Today’s painting at Anne Lang’s Emporium (AND TIME IS PASSING QUICKLY FOR YOU TO EXPERIENCE HER FANTASTIC TURKEY MELT SANDWICH – DELI CLOSES DEC. 1, SO HURRY HURRY, I’M NOT KIDDING!!)