WIP - Old men
There are more than a few paintings that start off as one thing and I get to a point where I'm not feeling it anymore or at least it's not headed the way that I imagined. Sometimes it can be as simple as a realization that I'm not using the right medium or process to achieve what I set out to. That's just part of my process and I'm open to changing approaches midway to see something through.
Other times, I find myself lacking enthusiasm for a piece and it may take weeks or even months of it sitting off to the side, glanced at from time to time, waiting until I've come to the decision to plunge ahead or paint over it and start something new. The decision to paint over and start again is not one I take lightly. I understand that it is often that history, of texture and coats of color, that ultimately contributes to the new piece and it becomes far more than if I had started with a fresh canvas. However, a piece has to suck really bad in my mind before I'm willing to paint over it. At the very least, there can't be anything that I deem salvageable.
And then there's the pieces that I know deep down that there's something there, that it's worth completing, but it nonetheless hangs in a creative limbo where I'm not happy with my ideas of where it goes next.
'Old Men' (working title) started from a photo that I had seen of old men in Italy captivated by a beautiful woman passing by. I used the photo for reference, but painted the figures as I saw fit rather than a copy. With the first pass, I decided that three old men staring at a woman kind of lacked the depth I like to portray in my paintings, so I removed her and added in a storefront.
It's not an uncommon sight in towns in Italy that old men (and ladies) will gather at a neighborhood market or bar and discuss the world's current events and I thought this the perfect setting for this painting.
And this is about as far as I got before losing steam and shelving it until inspiration hit again. With the recent completion of an abstract painting, I looked at starting a new or digging back into an old one and this ended up back on the easel.
There's a lot of things I like about this painting. I had rough outlines sketched out for the men and their features and character evolved naturally. I kind of like the store and kind of don't. I haven't finished some of the detail of the men - such as the middle gentleman's arms/hands - as I think it will play into the final scene. There's something here. I just don't know where it needs to go.
Fortunately, this is a rare cycle for a piece. My paintings never take this long, even when I stop/start to evaluate my progress. Nevertheless, I first started this painting over a year ago and still know it needs to be finished. I'm going back to Italy at the end of this year - maybe it will provide the needed inspiration to get this one done.