Never Give Up

I drove by this scene outside Dolores, Colorado the other day but I was too late for the fireworks. The Cottonwoods along the river were glowing as I headed toward town, but by the time I got here it was gone. I snapped a photo any way. Fresh from the Jill Carver workshop I figured I’d give it a try. I'm in pursuit of vibrant clean color and this was another opportunity. I did my due diligence: notan study-check, value plan-check, motif-check. So I happily painted away and came up with a real piece of crap. The composition was OK but I was trapped by the photo. It just didn’t work. The tree looked lame. It was one of those moments of “Why paint . . . why torture myself.”

I had the day all to myself. No distractions. Hit the studio at 8:00 am to finish last night’s effort. Started on the Cottonwood at 10:30 and hit the wall at noon. Some chicken tacos at El Pollo Loco sounded like a plan. I washed my hands but returned to the big chair in the studio to see if I could figure it out. The words of Matt Smith and the lessons of Ray Roberts rang in my head,

“Scrape it dude.”

But there was something about the composition I liked. I got my hands dirty scraping the tree down to white (Love those double oil primed canvas boards!). I cleaned up again and off I went. While I waited for my chicken I channeled Paul Bingham . . . What did Maynard do?

Right then and there I googled his stuff and wham! Found a Maynard cottonwood that was sensational. I got inspiration from the master, I wouldn’t copy his tree but he gave me several ideas.

Maynard's Cottonwood lifted me out of the doldrums.

Returning to the garage I sat in the big chair contemplating. I got a crazy idea. Forget the photo . . . make the light come from the opposite direction! Then self-doubt crept in. How could I do that. Everything would be screwed up. It’s impossible . . . just wipe the whole 11x14.  But hang on . . . I had no obligation to the photo. I'm in control, not some digital image. I need to make a PAINTING. And yeah Dave . . . you got nothing to do the rest of the day . . .  time to experiment. Maynard had some cool tricks. It was all about the edges and transitions and proper placement of the lightest light.

Well holy shit, I sit here back at my desk with many lessons learned. Don’t give up! Control self-doubt. Seek inspiration from the masters and, most importantly, follow your vision. If you can dream it, you can do it.

And, oh yeah, that damned photo.