Designed a few paintings yesterday but I'm getting a little tired of it. I find I'm most productive with two or three things on the go at once. With one thing, your only option is to work on it or not, and not often feels more appealing; but with several things, you can choose which to do and, in the end, it all gets done. I prefer to work on the hardest and most difficult thing first, as everything becomes easier then. Of course, soon, the hard thing becomes easy and something else becomes difficult.
I slept badly but was determined to paint today, at the start of a busy week. The mark of the professional is working when you must, whether you feel like it or not. Most of the time when I paint, I don't feel like it. Generally, the results are no different. Of course, actors and musicians must perform on the night whether they feel like it or not; so it is with good painters.
I worked on Moon Over Shakespeare. When I completed the underpainting I thought that it looked finished enough, but, naturally, now it is dry it looks grey and imperfect. I spent a day painting the sky and today worked on some elements of the floor. My main aim was work on the poppies. These intense reds are just about impossible to paint in one layer; the modern reds with even a touch of white makes an insipid pink. Even Velazquez' crimson draperies are strange pinks are they not? These petal shades are easy with glazing. See here the underpaint vs. the final petals:
The finished painting looks more bold in some areas. I didn't glaze all of the mountains. These may benefit from it; things would have been smoother, but I am always aware when painting that work on one is stealing time from another. I know that there isn't time today to complete it all... I may add more.
Time is too short. Life is too short. I have so much I would like to do and have too little time and resources.
