I never liked the little hummer, not from the very beginning. He was too big, too long, too not right at all. So I changed him drastically, bigger head, bigger eye, shortened him up and dressed him in more finery. Very loosely, I might add. What you see is a minimum of strokes, on the bird. The background got a lot of attention, and I think he really popped, which is what I want all my paintings to do, have some WOW in them. One of the things I did was leave white out of the equation, a lot. I love to schmoosh paint all over the palette, mixing it until it is just barely tinted mud. And I get muddy paintings. So I had an eye for values and colors this time, and it worked! Some things resolved themselves, like the funny branch he is clinging to. I thought it was not very defined when I put the painting to bed yesterday. Now, I like it a lot. And I think I like the painting, too. I am never really sure. Yesterday, as I puttered around doing all this stuff, I was watching a program on Cezanne on Ovation TV, a treasure I found not long ago in that seemingly endless parade of channels on my satellite, and he was never satisfied with his work, doubted his vision right to the end of his days. Yet, now, he is considered a virtual master and visionary that led us into cubism and the modern era. Go figure. Artists are just insecure, and a little looney. Moi aussi.
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