WORKS IN PROGRESS: CAN YOU TELL WHAT IT IS YET?

First up, Redbubble are having a sale, so if you were considering buying a canvas print of my work or anyone else's on there, now's the time to do it. Sale ends Sunday!

Anyway, I usually have a half-decent idea of where I want to end up when I start a painting. But not always..

yesterday I decided to try and make use of all the gorgeous pics I took at the Botanics on Sunday, and paint some orchids. I started with this (photoshopped up for colours) image :

And did this little painting :

Orchid. Acrylic on Canvas 8" x 8"

Which I hated. Not sure why, but I did. I hated painting it, I hated the direction it was taking, and I couldn't see a way to paint it so I liked it. So I mushed up all the paint, and ended up with this :

In between. 8" x 8" Acrylic on canvas

There's sort of still a shadow of a flower in the sky, there..a kind of fleur de nuit. But it looked a bit too splashy, like fireworks or something. And I didn't like the yellowy green. Not a fan of yellowy greens, on the whole. By this time, it was quite dark outside but I photographed the final version anyway.

The gate (night) Acrylic on canvas 8" x 8"

Much as I love this, it's not really the true thing - I never take photos with flash (really wouldn't work on artwork anyway) so the colour values and the light are all different. the final image is actually more like this.

The Gate. Acrylic on canvas 8" x 8"

It's come a long way from an orchid. Rolf Harris would be proud - or deeply disturbed, I'm not sure which.

The fun thing about the digital age though, is that nothing is ever lost. So now I don't hate the orchid pic as much as I did when I was painting it, I still have it. The transitional painting, which has it's own merits even though I like the final version better, survives. And I don't need to sit and look at my little abstract and wonder if it would be better as an orchid. I can enjoy it for what it is. And if anyone reading has fallen in love with any of the images above, they can buy a canvas print at the redbubble sale.

I also managed to finally finish off the damned plums pic, yesterday. And do another lemons one. And today, I'm applying for a part time job in an art shop round the corner - wish me luck!