Painting from memory or imagination is hard to do. You start out and things look fine for a while. Suddenly you can't quite remember how the edge of a river should look, or what was the real shape of that tree, or what were the real colours of those rocks. At this point I usually leave the painting before I ruin it. I'm guessing here instead of being sure of what I want to paint. Sometimes when you guess it works. Most times you get into trouble.
I had those very problems with my last painting and I ended up scrapping it. By that I mean I scraped all the rough paint off, sanded the panel, and re-applied gesso. It waits for inspiration.
I ran into the same problem with a new painting. I began to get worried. This is where an artist has to remember the words of his former mentor. "Never give up". "Make it turn out".
So I took the dog and myself up to O'Hara Mill, a natural pioneer setting about five minutes drive from home where I often go for peace and solitude. Most of the time, today included, I was the only one in the park. There are a thousand paintings waiting to be done there if you like landscapes. I made a sketch and observed what water looked like at the edges, what trees really looked like in November. Nature is wonderful and as I spent my two hours there with my dog, both of us sitting quietly in the warm sun taking it all in, I think we both regained our composure and charged our batteries. Now I can paint and my dog can look forward to going there again soon. She loves it there. It's wild and beautiful. It's just what an artist and his dog needs.
