Hardy Plant Society of Oregon was gracious in allowing us painters to set up at two of the extraordinary gardens on their annual tour. At the back of the small garden where I worked was a shed which one of the volunteers said had been used for the ponies when the kids were little. The rustic collection of antiquities on its little porch gave an air of folk art, and that is the vein in which I attempted to paint the scene. Lower left is at approx. the 20 min. mark (so there's my "daily" exercise); lower right is the point at which I left to go over to the larger garden (painting time: approx. 1 hr.). The top image is where the painting currently stands while I debate whether I want to do what I see it needs... or move on.
My paintings are always more interesting when there isn't much there yet. Why do I feel the need to "complete" them... to make things recognizable? What's wrong with some white space?
Absolutely nothing! I wish I'd left off with the 20-min. stage and started over again on another sheet. A bit of time looking at the initial impulse, and then a
little bit of tweaking, and I could have called it good.
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