Struggling

So I had planned on blogging once a week but since the first post was an introduction of sorts I’m going to “officially” blog for this week.

Before I jump right into what I really what to talk about, I thought I’d explain a little about the way I paint and a bit about the thought put into it so that you get a general idea of what’s going on. I usually like to paint landscapes, I do draw figures but they’re usually stylized (non-realistic), and my subject is more about imagining and displaying my own little world and attaching an emotion to it. My work is usually kind of flat so I use layers and overlapping to create depth and I like outlining everything in black to represent shadows and using white to help model the shapes. I also have some free form, organic shapes hanging or floating in the skies of a few pieces. The idea behind that is from when you’re a little kid and you lie on your back and make shapes out of the clouds. I just take shapes and create a puzzle type set up in the sky. It’s something I’m experimenting with and that I like in some of the paintings.

That being said, I’ve been working on ideas for pieces to submit to a scholarship, maybe even my senior exhibition when the time comes, and I’m struggling a little with the piece I’m working on now. It’s not that I don’t like it, but it’s not exactly what I envisioned. Granted, none of my pieces have ever worked out exactly how I imagine them to and I love them because of it. But this time I don’t have other people in the studio or my professor to give me feedback and tell me why it’s more “eh…” than “ah!” I’m hoping it’s just in the ugly phase of the process but I’m also worried that it may just be better to start over while I still can. It is on a smaller canvas than I would like because I’m trying to save money and work with what I have for now. I have canvas and gesso so I just need to buy some stretcher bars, I’m just concerned that if I try and stretch the canvas myself it will be too much for me and it’ll buckle or snap or be too loose, yadda yadda. The canvas isn’t too bothersome though so long as the finished product comes out looking like what I’m thinking it will. Also, I’m just laying out color blocks in acrylic and will use oil paint on top of that later, but it still seems a bit off to me. So here’s a picture of what I have so far and please tell me what you think is going on with this piece.