The Dead Horse...

I was headed to Trinay, but instead ended up here. A breezy and overcast day, so I was pretty comfortable by the side of the road, at the top of the largest hill for miles around. Can't say it's been easy going so far. At the moment "good painting, bad painting" doesn't even enter into the discussion. I'm putting all my energies towards handling these so-called Open Acrylics and getting them to work for me in this environment. (Inside, at Disston, it wasn't even an issue.) Here I'm fighting constantly with my materials, and I need to keep an open mind, try different approaches, and remind myself that there are no rules to follow, just whatever works.

This is the first of two paintings I did today. I had fun with this, painting on Grey Roma paper, and treated the acrylics a lot like my gouaches. "Fun"...that should tell me something.

For the second painting of the day, I didn't wander far, just down the hill from Montigny. That's where the miracle of the Dead Horse comes in. Yes, I was flogging it, and flogging away, NOT having fun. But I was determined to make a dead horse move...and eventually, I think, it managed to stand up. So here it is, the painting that I didn't give up on...for better or worse.

Back in the saddle tomorrow...giddyup!