I really liked how this waterfall painting I did before turned out and I wanted to give it to my mom for Christmas, but I liked it too much so I decided to make another one from a photograph of the waterfall from a slightly (ever so slightly) different angle. (I took the photographs on my road trip in the Midwest. I think this waterfall is somewhere near Michigan.)
I loved painting this. I felt each step had its own beauty. Brushstrokes on a canvas, vague sense of depth. There is a great sense of flow making something from nothing, slowly watching it develop like a polaroid. I like the in-between stages where it seems like it has so much possibility.
Some time during the painting, I grabbed a brush I haven’t used in a while and forgot how thick of a stroke it produces. Instead of making a duplicate of a previous painting, I felt like I added a stylistic element that transformed it into a pattern-world where things jut in and out of a realistic dimension (if that makes any sense). And, I think I like this one better than the one I wanted to save. Unlike children, it’s easy and an often thing I do, to pick favorites among my work. Some paintings that have lost their charm, paintings that I’ve grown tired of, get painted over. Sometimes, I imagine the paintings quivering in fear as I evaluate their worth. But, I also imagine that they preen in excitement as if they have been chosen for a special privilege.
