I have a confession to make: sometimes I do a painting that brings up so much emotion for me I feel like crying. This morning it was with a five foot by seven foot, three-panel painting I’ve been working on for at least a year. Off and on, of course, and always thinking it was finished before I went at it again.
If I can remember correctly, at first it was a pale yellow, then a peachy yellow, then a bright yellow. It never felt quite right even though it was a good painting. I kept seeing red when I looked at it (and I don’t mean anger). So last week I went into it with rose madder, leaving a small portion of the first panel yellow. The yellow under the red gave it a glow that was interesting. It looked good, but not good enough. Once away from the painting, I “saw” that the yellow part needed to be black. And the red, more red. So that’s what happened this morning.
If my emotions are trustworthy at this point, finally it works. I’ll leave it as it is and have a photo soon.