Flying Girl and the Dance, or Pas De Deux

Flying Girl and the Dance, or Pas De Deux
3/12/09
Golden Fluid Acrylics on watercolor paper, 7"x10"

This one may look familiar to you folks. That's because it's a redo of a painting I did back in November. Someone liked the November painting but I was uncomfortable with the sketchiness of the original. So I painted it again.

I did it on heavier paper and larger, and I brought to it the things I've been doing lately, namely the underpainting. It's still simpler than what I've been doing lately, but I like it a lot better than the original. I think Flying Girl and Flying Guy look more dynamic, stronger. I like that they are larger and more finely done, although still loose. I like that there's more tension in the composition, with a steeper angle and less negative space. I like that the flowers are less intrusive. I considered not putting them in at all, but I think they add something to the narrative of the piece, and I like the bit of pink.

Oh, and I love the little cockeyed curls at the end of her rippled hair. I still like the color combo and in real life, the two paintings look almost the same, except for the added bit of pink from the underpainting.

FG Is Coming Together, or The Dance
11/22/08
Golden Fluid Acrylic and paper, 51/2"x8"

The discrepancies in color here are from the not so great photography. Sorry, upgrading my systems, camera included, is on my to do list.

Anyway, I enjoyed doing another version of this. Sometimes we really can take the best of an experience and recreate it-- or rather, re-envision it.

Oh, goodness, you silly novel-ignorer. It's called revision.

Revision is good. We learn new things. We create improved things. We become better artists.

I need to get back to work on my novel.

(to buy a print of Flying Girl and the Dance or Pas De Deux, go here!)