It was a tight squeeze, but I've just finished the second painting -- the mid-section -- of the proposed triptych (a 3-part series, intended to work as a whole) I described in Inspired by the blue and white girls. That earlier post introduced the first (left-hand) panel, "Fishing With the Blue and White Girls" shown here:
With the second panel, I've learned some big lessons -- including what an innocent I was at the outset. The first lesson, one that kept my brain cells whirring for almost two weeks, was that I needed to find a way to break up the horizontal line of the table's back edge. Did I not foresee that I was going to have to deal with this line (and the blank space above it) travelling along to the right, across two more paintings? Obvious answer: No.
Okay. I'd planned to call this second one "Celebrating with the Blue and White Girls" so with the gorgeous Corsican hellebores blooming in our front yard, I decided to break up the space above the table line with (1) a big bouquet, and (2) a basket of party favours.
Early into the layout, I stumbled on the next big lesson, which might sound a bit like Math Anxiety Redux:
(A) 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 paintings = 1 triptych
(B) 2 + 1 = 3 paintings = 1 triptych
(C) 3 paintings = 1 triptych
(D) 1 long sheet of paper divided by 3 = 1 triptych
Statement D says it all. The best way to develop this triptych would have been to start with a giant piece of paper, lay out the whole 3-part sequence, then cut the sheet into thirds, and begin to paint. Alas, no such room in the small basement studio, and I soon realized it was going to be a neat trick to make a unified transition from the right side of "Fishing" to the left side of "Celebrating."
In any case, here's the final version of my latest (copyright 2014) -- you can view its evolutionary challenges here.
And just think: I'll be able to practice what I learned when I move on to the final right-hand panel and aim again for a seamless transition.
An unexpected pleasure of doing this series, though, is that another Blue and White Girl has surfaced among my friends. Well, why should I be surprised that my wonderful friends, unknown to each other, would meet, find common interests, and appreciate each other via my little corner of cyberspace?
Bouquets to all of you! (Luckily, I took this photo on Day 2 of my still life set-up, after seeing that the hellebores had unexpectedly straightened up and flipped themselves to the left overnight -- after I'd laid in the basics. On Day 3, they had completely drooped over, and I had to refer to the photo more than once.).
