Reworking a Painting

Original Painting from September

Reworked Painting
"Chasin' the Blues"
6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord
Number 8 in the Scratching the Surface Series
On Exhibit at Abend Gallery

You know how some paintings just never get past the "meh" stage?  It's OK but not quite?  That's the way I felt about the original painting from September shown here. 

When I thought about what I was going to paint today, hubby is watching Hunger Games from iTunes, I decided to take an old painting and try the scratching technique on it.  This meant scratching through dry paint with a craft knife, and then deciding what to do from there.

So I scratched and scratched with my trusty little craft knife which showed the white of the Gessobord underneath.  Didn't find that aesthetically pleasing so I made a glaze of burnt umber and walnut oil and wiped the painting down.  That helped but also took off some of the old paint as I was wiping it down.  So I repainted with my palette knife - the blueberries.  Then I started adding color and depth into the apple using my palette knife and a paper towel.

The result is the reworked painting "Chasin' the Blues".  Much happier....and now I'm off to find some old paintings I don't like anymore!