Finding A Sweet Spot

This is the second canvass I worked on last week. I started by laying down some purples and greys and didn't like it at all. The good thing about painting is that if you don't like something, you can paint over it, again and again...and again and again if need be. Yes, that actually happens. As I was painting over the displeasing parts for the umpteenth time, this small section of yellow/orange was left and I decided I really liked it.

I had this old photo of a lifeguard which I love-just look at that bathing suit-what's not to love!?! I wanted to create a rough circle around the sweet spot where the photo would go, so I ran to our cupboard and stole the lid off an unopened tin of my husband's coffee. (Fortunately, he's used to me doing this sort of thing and didn't mind when I mentioned it later.) I mixed some red paint with a hint of black and then ran the rim of the lid around in it before using it to "stamp" the circle onto my canvass. I wanted it to look rough so I twisted the lid as I pressed and then added some circle lines afterwards with a stabillio pencil.

That's as far as I went because I wanted to wait and see what techniques we'd be learning this week. There are four new ones, so now I can move on. The only thing is that now I am in the middle of a miserable hay fever attack so I haven't felt up to painting yet this week. I hate losing momentum, but it is what it is. In the meantime, I'm couch surfing, drinking tea and watching documentaries on Nextflix. As soon as I feel better, I'll be diving right back in.