After the Rain ©John O’Grady 2015
Oil on deep edged canvas 12″ x 12″ x 1.75″ /30.5 cm x 30.5 cm x 4.7 cm
It does not require framing and is ready to hang.
SOLD
The trials and tribulations of a painting!
Normally I try to post on a Wednesday but this latest painting gave me a whole lot of grief. Now each one I make always involves a battle to the finish and that is the way it should be, as hopefully things move forward.
This particular piece had, I thought, been resolved yesterday. Photographs were taken and were ready to post.
But at the last minute, something didn’t feel right. It lacked something of a connection, a feeling …
The reason I mention this is, often the day after, I look afresh at a piece and usually something clicks and gives me an opening.
After refraining from posting yesterday, I thought this would be the case but the struggle continued.
This has happened once or twice before so I’ve left the painting aside for a couple of weeks and this strategy has worked but today, being really cheesed off with this painting (sounds crazy I know), I persevered.
I scraped off the lower two thirds, added more paint and repeated this process several times until I decided the piece was finished.
I am mentioning this because I learned something: being like a terrier with a bone and never giving up can pay dividends not necessarily in terms of how the painting looks at the end but sometimes it gives your self belief a boost to push through to the end.
Has anyone else found this the case with their work?
Here is a detail of the sunrise in the finished painting.
well done John, I think the darker turquoise colour works better in the final version. It works better to highlight the beautiful sunrise
Thanks Eoin,
Yes I thought it worked out better too in the final piece, thanks very much
Interesting, John…I like it. The puddles in the final painting seem to reflect the struggle through which you persevered to reach the final after the rain!!! Great work!!!
Hello Terry,
Thank you, yes I hadn’t realised that and after the rain will come the sunshine
Well done for persevering, John. The cooler colors in the foreground and midground create a better connection with the distant view, and the overall effect of this, with the watery pools one after the other, leads the eye right through the landscape to the far hills. You toned down the yellow in the sky, too? This is so lovely!
Hello Josephine,
I am glad I did persevere, I suppose the underlying theme of what was learnt is if we keep on pushing through we don’t know what might emerge. I am glad you noticed the sky had changed as well, I thought it all needed to be less strident.
After the painting crashed on Wednesday night, I was looking at paintings which I do at times for succour and encouragement and was drawn to American painters, Sargent when he was in England his greens are just gorgeous and full of atmosphere and also Wyeth’s landscapes full of understated detail. Anyway that gave me the leap into the following day’s work. The cooler colours do I agree bring us into the distance more successfully, thank you for your comment.
This is a good example of tenacity which is quality that can sometimes bring great benefits – often unexpected ones; well done for persevering John. I am so glad you showed the detail of the sunrise as it really shows the delicacy of the brushwork and colouration and the whole works together well.
Hello Christine,
I think so too, I didn’t want it to sound too ‘me me’ as I carry on with this path the grittier I am becoming. I have quite a few creatives who visit here and thought that it might benefit them. Thank you for the comment on the painting we got there in the end. Yes that sunrise detail seemed to be lost on the first larger image, it looked okay I thought with the light around the clouds.
John I love your honesty….and it shines through to a Splendid end result.
Hello Elles,
Thank you very much. I am glad you like the painting, proof enough for me that it pays to stick at it.