This past Friday, I celebrated the “birth” of my third painting. As usual, I initially saw all of the shortcomings of it before appreciating what was wonderful about it. Namely, I really like the way the background for the lower three panels look, the characters pop off the canvas and the fractured look of the sections. I struggled with the top section for several reasons. The maze is not painted at the angle that I originally envisioned and the clouds aren’t nearly as billowy and ominous as I would like them to be. I still struggled with getting the body portions correct, but I like the difference in their positions.
As a matter of fact, I just recently attended two art galleries where the human form was deformed by Picasso, Miro, Chagall, and other artists. I wish I could be as fearless as those great artists. Yet, my style is not to be purposely “deformative.” Nonetheless, as I concluded with the very first painting, I’m not going to improve my technique by dwelling on the amateurish errors.
Once I rearranged the other two paintings in order to accommodate the addition of the third, I was struck by the intense energy coming off the trio. I actually cringed, thinking about 24 of them coming all together! Yet, I like the painting collaboration with my writing. Of course, the next day, I prepped the fourth canvas. Thanks to this third painting, I don’t know if I’ll section off another canvas in the traditional rectangular sections of storyboards. I like playing with the unusual sections.