Clock, rounds 2 & 3

Sometimes I can be very silly. Take, for example, one week ago, when I was certain that if I could get some painting done during the week and then paint both days on the weekend, I'd probably be done with this painting. Silly, silly me.

It's been a while since I last worked on a painting with a lot of buildings, so I guess I forgot how long it takes to paint architecture. The Lux clock on the Green definitely counts as architecture, at least in terms of painting it. Verticals, horizontals, ins, outs, undersides, shadows, subtle modulations of color and texture, solid three-dimensional forms, endless precision. With trees, I can paint somewhat fast and loose--no one will notice if the tree in the painting does not look exactly like the tree in real life. But if a well-known landmark isn't painted correctly, everyone will notice. Add to that the fact that the clock is the centerpiece and focal point of the composition, and my hope of finishing quickly becomes even sillier.



I like the way the base looks right now, the shadow is just right. It's going to take at least one more session to finish the clock. Not only does the clock need to look good, but it also needs to work well with the trees. That's the tricky part: making two very different types of things work well together. I know I can do it, it just takes time. Maybe, if I can get in some painting on a couple evenings this week, and then paint both days this weekend, I'll have the whole thing finished by next Monday....