Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Well Well

Not much to say really. Sharmon's blog is about lacking time to blog, and I can sympathise with that.

I've finished this stage of my Annunciation painting. At the last minute I painted a green area red. It's rather dark, being transparent AND over a complimentary colour but the hue balance is much better. I'll add another layer I think, but trying to lighten reds like this is a challenge because they are best glazed over a lighter underpainting (mixing in white always makes ugly pinks). I've also been mixing new media but it's rather rich; 1 part stand oil, 2 parts amber varnish, 3 parts safflower oil. My current one uses more like 9 parts safflower! I need to cut this new one down a bit.

I've got an idea for a short story and have been reading about writing. Learning the "correct" way to do things like this makes the whole thing more daunting. Being aware of what you've done wrong in the past is bound to make you more wary of trying again. The trick is to ignore that and just try. Who cares about mistakes! I'm sure there are better writers than Dan Brown out there who never bothered trying. Dan Brown beats them then. It's better to come last in a race than not have a go.