Aug 31, 2022, Wed — I did it!! I finished the painting. Parsnip Accomplished! I may lighten up the lower zone of the sky when I return tomorrow… we’ll see how I like it after a night’s sleep. I’m looking at the iphone photo of it as we speak, but it’s one of those that isn’t photographing well with the iphone. It’s much better in actuality. 

Have I become paranoid about skies? I look at some of the paintings from when I first got to Redding, and some from my very early work and the skies are awesome! They were easy and intuitive and I love how they look. At this point, I kind of contract a little when it’s time for the sky. They can be real bugs. This one, I like pretty much, but I wouldn’t say I’m “thrilled” with it. Although, a few lightening strokes (as opposed to lighting bolts) tomorrow and I have a feeling that will nail it.

Oh… I’m just realizing something. The easier skies that I’ve looked at, marveled at, are daytime skies. And lately I’m doing these intense golden hour skies and the intense colors can be daunting to pair with the foreground. I think that’s what’s going on. More practice, more paintings. Since painting and colorism is intuitive to me, that is always my solution. Move on and learn more on the next painting.

What a day of intense work. In addition to Parsnip Accomplished, which was imperative to finish today, (and a huge relief), this week has been overwhelming in how utterly choreographed I’ve had to be to get everything done before leaving on Saturday. Much less pack! So crazy having this extra oil painting project for Anne in prep for when I get back. I need to do it now because if I wait till I return, it won’t have time to dry. So that’s tomorrow, and shouldn’t take too long.

I’ll post a pic of Wild Parsnip tomorrow in case I make the aforementioned refinements.

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