“Turquoise Green Angel with a Face of Yellow and a Mask of Blue” – battling the yellow

Last night I worked on my turquoise green painting which at the moment I call Walking the Yellow Line. There is a part in the painting where the blue kneeling angel’s head is full of screaming/singing heads. They are seen because of the kneeling angel’s head. It acts as a magnifying glass revealing what’s inside and not seen. Last night I put some red paint on those faces.

Multiple red and one white heads are seen inside of the kneeling angel’s screaming/singing head

I am not sure if this is the right red. I feel like it is not playing along the yellow I have there now. It could be that the yellow is in the wrong spot.

The yellow of the neck is defined by pencil lines

I have defined a little bit more the yellow/blue faces/masks of angels close to the red screaming/singing heads. It could be that these colors clash because I am not finished with the definition.

Something still needs to happen in the painting for me to be content with the results. I return to thinking that there is something missing in it or that one or another line should be drawn differently. But, I should say, I like those singing/screaming heads inside of the kneeling angel’s head. The head is a bit too active now. Hopefully after I put all characters together the painting is going to uncover the story of these heads. For some reason the yellow paint around the heads feels too heavy.

The red of the heads and the yellow around them in a developing stage

Oh, I think I know what needs to be done. This is where my smaller canvases are going to come into the play.

The trees outside my window have turned beautiful colors in their crowns. There are some beautiful things that need to be done, but I am constantly stopping and staring at the painting. A few sips of coffee and I am back to being all active. I am trying to keep my focus on this writing though my hands itch to cover this yellow again until I find that perfect placing of it.

The yellow of one of the heads doesn’t work inside of the screaming/singing head

It is funny how I am battling this yellow on the painting. I am pretty sure I am going to find that perfectly imperfect placing of it there.

It feels like even my hearing has become very sharp. I hear something chewing on the wood of the house, which is possible considering how old the house is and how many creatures there are outside in the woods and the fields.

So yes, I am covering all the yellow in the painting and reapplying it little by little. It just could be that I need to use a different tint of yellow of which I should have some in my small tubes. It could be that I am  fighting this yellow because it is just not the right yellow I need for the painting.

The body of the yellow faced angel is getting more pronounced after I removed the yellow in the background. This version also shows my trying out the red as the background color.

I am already breaking my rule to use only two colors in a painting. I am way too involved with all the colors here to follow “the rule.” This introduction of the red, (ha, I just looked at the jar and it says “quinacridone violet”) doesn’t smoothly lie on canvas. It acts pretty much like the phtalo blue. I can’t get it evenly solid, but every stroke I make gives me a certain dimension which brings the faces out and alive.

I am looking at the photos of the painting and am amazed how much it has changed. It is really something when I look at the very first version of it and I look at it now. What a difference!

One of the earliest versions of the Turquoise Green Angel

I am glad that I decided to use the phtalo blue on the angel’s wings, huge difference from the blue I had originally.

A color choice detail from one of the first drafts of the Turquoise Green Angel

I love working with solid colors. Considering how I like lines and different perspectives on the painting now, these solid colors make me happy.

Looking at the Turquoise Green Angel from a different angle

I took one of my smaller canvases I have started with my friend Netza being around and realized that the sketching I made on that canvas has quite a few wonderful things happening there. As soon as I have put my attention away from my turquoise green painting I felt that the red (quinacridone violet) is good there and I just needed to fix the yellow around it.

A newly sketched canvas is seen behind the Turquoise Green Angel

This is exactly why I like working on multiple canvases at the same time. Anytime I hit some kind of road block or I don’t know if I made a right choice, I put my attention towards another canvas. When the attention from the canvas I am not sure about is removed,  I see almost immediately where I need to go and what I need to do to finish the painting in question.

It is amazing how the smaller painting speaks to me now. It is giving me all kinds of ideas about the small canvases. I love how my mind got on this wonderful creative path now. The colors outside my window are inspiring me tremendously.

I also realized that the floor in the hallway next to my room has a similar color I am using on my red screaming/singing heads.

The floor outside my room has a similar color I paint the screaming/singing heads on the turquoise green painting

The color on the floor is called “wild red currant.” So here we go, the Red Currant Story I wrote in my novel is now on a canvas. The turquoise green painting has the Yellow Line and the Red Currant stories in it. It is shaping so that this series of the paintings is becoming an addition to my novel. Love it!

Originally written on 10-6-17