2024 #30×30 Day 14 : Redux

This is another example of deleting a painting.

After finishing the one on the left, it felt a little chaotic. The impasto wasn’t working for me. It’s just instinct really, but I want the raised elements to cast shadows that help the drawing. Direction and placement of the ridges does actually matter, even though they might seem ‘random’ at first glance.

Because I decided to delete it the same day, it was simplicity itself to scrape off completely. The paint is still fresh, and I can collect each major color into its own pile for reuse. Some of the muddier mixes get saved off to the side, and I used them to neutralize other things, in the same way I’d use Neutral Grey in watercolor.

It may not have been necessary to completely sacrifice the first painting, but I’m much happier with the cleanliness of this revised version.

The second version is painted directly on top of the first scraped panel, so there is less of the under-painted orange, which I think is fine. It was a bit overdone before. Here it mainly shows in scraped lines, which I draw with the tip of a rounded, blunt palette knife. (Which I clean after every mark! Palette knives are great; so easy to keep clean :)