I started a new painting as a relatively realistic one inspired by my elephant ear garden, like the one I did a few weeks ago:

For the painting on canvas, I decided to add the purple hearts and marigolds that are also growing in the garden but stick to the heavy outline and washy color style. But it didn’t seem dynamic enough. I didn’t take process photos, but I added many many layers.

I think the more I paint, the slower I get at completing pieces. I had hoped that I’d get faster but that’s not happening. (I do believe one of the lessons of any art is learning patience — with the medium, with yourself, with the world.) It’s become more important to me to add layers then set the painting aside for a while. It feels like the painting tells me what to do. Sometimes that means painting it over in white and starting again. But this one was a matter of adding one layer to another, and experimenting — blurring the lines and deepening the colors.

I hope this new painting captures the feeling of delight and uplift I get when I go out in the evening, after the day has cooled off a little and the sun is going down; and I know some magic will happen in the garden during the night that will greet me in the morning.

What do you think?

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