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Indecision

“Indecision” sounds a lot like “indigestion” which sounds a bit like “indigent” which means “poor enough to need help from others”.

These paintings might be poor enough to need help from others. I can’t decide if they are finished, if there is a way to improve them, or if they just need to be painted over with something else.

I like it, then I doubt my own opinion, then I decide to just sign it and be finished, but I can’t because something unknwon is holding me back. I can’t decide.
This was my first plein air painting in Mineral King this summer. I hid in the trees so no one would watch me flail around. Does it need more light on the edge of the larger red fir? Maybe wildflowers in the foreground would solve whatever it is that makes me not love this painting. Maybe it needs to be detailed, the way I normally paint. I can’t decide.
There was no good place to stand on the bridge so I was off to the side, and had to be careful each time I stepped back to not trip or step into traffic. I’ve painted this cabin scene so many times before, but never from this angle, and never with this lack of detail. Does it need more detail? I can’t decide.
This was painted in my front yard shortly after I returned from the plein air painting workshop in Georgia. I think it is boring, in spite of being the best time of year. Is it boring or is it just that “familiarity breeds contempt”? I can’t decide.
This is how the same scene looks now. This photo is definitely boring, but Three Rivers is still the best place to live in Tulare County. No indecision in that department!

4 Comments

  1. Plein air is not my thing. It looks to me like I need to clean the foggy pane of window I’m looking through. You know, along the lines of 1 Corinthians 13:12a. I like your paintings because they are an artistic but accurate representation of the subject you’re painting. But then again, I’m a realist!

    • Sharon, you and I are realists for sure. My art cleans up reality in a manner that the viewer is unaware. I distill a scene down to the parts that matter most, but never in the severe and simplistic way of plein air. I admire that ability, but don’t always admire the results.

  2. I’m used to your detailed painting. The little details draw me in.
    I’m sure the plein air workshop was beneficial – but you have developed a style of your own – which is fabulous!

    • Thank you, Anne, for your words about my own style. My confidence in this is quite low, which is probably a result of working in solitude for too many years.

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