Working back into things

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This watermelon painting was driving me crazy every time I looked at it--bleh. So I decided to try to bring up some of the values in the melon. I'm always afraid to work back into these little paintings I whip out in an hour or so. I produce them in such a blaze, I'm always afraid I will just ruin them if I touch them again. Case in point, this recent painting of some Bartlett pears, which I tried to develop a little more and ended up totally destroying (sorry, no picture. it went straight to the garbage, which I'm really not sad about since I wasn't happy with it as it was anyway--it probably would have helped to have a reference photo or the pears in front of me again. note taken ;)


Anyway, back to the watermelons. I'm happier with the way the flesh of the watermelon looks. But now I'm thinking I should have left the stupid background alone. Dare I try again? Maybe I'll mull it over for a few days before doing anything rash ;)

This line from Carlson's book on landscape painting keeps coming to mind: "A good picture is a series of good corrections, a striking of balance, so don't expect too much from the first lay-in." I guess I am just not very well versed on the more process-based, layer upon layer approach to painting (or any approach to painting for that matter, ha!). When I do paint, I tend to paint more alla prima style (and am drawn to that type of work when I see it), but getting it right on the first try is no easy task, and maybe I need to expand my toolbox a bit ;). Let's face it, painting well is hard. It's really hard.

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