The last week I have been busy in my studio. Here you see it while I work. I work on many paintings at the same time. I have been working on old paintings, refreshing them, hopefully to the better, and also on new ones. The painting on the easel, with the girl, has now been altered to the painting below.

I think the painting looks new. No more yellow stockings, no more yellow sky, but red stockings and a better looking dress. What do you think? And now is the question; should I date the painting this year, or the year when I first painted it?

Needles and pins

Some weeks back I made a painting based on a photo I found in a magazine. You can see it below to the left. It is actually based on someone else’s photograph, so I was advised by Kerry Schroeder to think about what it was that attracted me to this photo? The answer I got was the needles and pins and the big contrasts with the red, white and black. Then it could be a good idea to move on and make a new painting based on this inspiration. So I found a canvas from several years back with strong colours on it, and I decided to  use it as a background. Then I had some fun using black to make the round shapes and white to make the contrasts. In the end I added the needles and pins. Below you will see the result.

Old paintings

As I mentioned above, it was actually quite nice working on old paintings. Time goes by, I hopefully improve as an artist, and maybe I can improve my paintings.

Below is another canvas that I pulled out of storage and reworked. The original background was pale blue, but dull and made the painting flat with little contrasts. The mother looked mean, so I tried to change her image. Here is the result:

I have been working on a new painting too. It is not yet finished, I have made many layers, but am close to finishing it now. The canvas is 60 x 60 cm. Below is how I started it and the layers to follow:

This is where it is now. Hopefully I can improve it.

It is not easy to always work alone; you have to give yourself feedback. Maybe I am not the most objective person. I have to try to look at it as if I was in a gallery and saw someone else’s work.

Maybe you can be the critic? What is needed in this painting?

Have a nice Sunday.