At the moment, I have about a dozen canvases in progress. Some are in the early, demoralizing, "what can save this picture?" mode.

That's where I was yesterday morning with one of my dawn sketches of Bush Park, near my home.

That's it, at right. It's a 9" x 12" oil painting on canvas board. The composition is okay, but the colors and especially the values were... well, disappointing. Insipid. Blah.

So, inspired by my recent success at stepping up color and contrast in other paintings, I worked on this some more. Wow! It made an amazing difference.

This painting isn't finished yet -- I figure two or three more days' work to complete it -- but I'm very pleased with it now. That's it, at left.

The colors in this photo aren't accurate. Even the tone is a little off. But, I think you can see where this painting is going. (I'll tweak the color better before I post this image in My Gallery at this site. It'll be at least a week, since I want this layer of oil paint to dry before I paint again.)

For me, this is encouragement.  Even the most ho-hum painting may be saved by adding more drama to color and contrast. 

MEMBERS COMMENTS VIEWING 1 - 1 OUT OF 1 COMMENTS From: DavidMcCamant 02/16/2008 23:56:23 I can see where you are going with this and it looks much stronger. Value is absolutely the tool for infusing light and drama. I can’t wait to see it finished. Warm Regards, David