Acrylic on Canvas #2 ~ Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

A long, long time ago in a land far far away an old woman picked up a paint brush…..

For my second foray into painting I have chosen a landscape I took while we vacationed in San Francisco. This picture was taken at Golden Gate Park in the Japanese Tea Garden. It was one of the most beautiful gardens I have seen in a very long time. The tranquil beauty and Japanese simplicity was stunning.

October 2, 2010

I have found that if I do a few preliminary sketches first then I have a better sense of what the focal point of the painting needs to be. I also took the time to make a grid, which I did not do last time. I really regretted not taking the time to do this. My perspective suffered and there were many times as I painted over certain parts of my last painting that I whished I had taken the time to get my perspective right before diving in.

October 26, 2010

I was finally able to transfer my grid to my canvas and get the main structure of the painting sketched out!

 

December 29, 2010

With the holidays it seems that there is little time for much else. However since our vacation turned into a staycation I found myself with a few moments of free uninterrupted time on my hands.

January 29, 2011

April 5, 2011

later that afternoon….

April 7, 2011

June 15, 2011

Gotta love the “Do Over”…if it just isn't working for me then I just let it dry and paint right over it….

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of life’s problems were that easy to solve. I am still not happy with the curved path but I have decided to avoid it and move on to other areas until such a time as figure out what to do with it!

August 17, 2011

November 14, 2012 (15 months since I worked on this painting….OMGoodness!!!!!)

The Hubs is out of town so I have my evening free to move upstairs to my new painting space and spend some time working on this piece.

Still not happy with the stone path and the scale on the small sculpture is way off, way to BIG!!!!!

But is is starting to take shape and move to a place where I want it to be.

then I did a bit more…..I decided that since this I my painting that I would just loose the small sculpture in the background. I may decide to put it back, but for now I am much happier now that I have removed it.

and a bit more….

11-15-2012

I am living with it for a few days to see if it needs any tweaking…..

So except for the final signature and a few more small tweaks I think it is finished, and it only took me two years plus to get this one finished…LOL!

Blessings

R

PS: I have a theory. I think that the surge in creative juices I am experiencing is directly related to the decrease in hormonal production that I am currently experiencing. I am finding that the waning hormonal situation going on has also for whatever reason fueled something…I am not sure what it is exactly. I find that with age comes great perspective and even greater depth of  understanding. In my younger days I would have long given up on something that was taking over two years to complete. Now I just look at it as part of the process. In the grand scheme of things I can learn to take comfort in the process and not fret so much on the small things. Yes, I am always more critical of the imperfections, but what matters most is remaining engaged and always looking for the next new thing. The next opportunity to stretch and learn something new like learning pottery. I am having a wonderful time with this new creative endeavor.

Or…theory #2: I need something to do to keep my mind engaged to protect the innocent people that I come in contact with on a daily basis.

Well I guess it’s on to painting number three. I am not sure what it will be. I have so many really good photographs from all the great places we have been. I will never run out of subject matter.

R