Changing Up the Palette – The Scary Stage

So on my last post, I tackled a spring painting with a different palette than I have been using.  I added some new colours to my palette (mainly in the yellow and red family) and purposely left out some of my “go-to” colours.  I showed you the reference photo and my initial underpainting.

So here is an update.  Welcome to the scary stage.

Did you think “established” painters don’t go through the scary stage?  Well, lots of them do, including me – on a regular basis.  Especially those that are willing to step outside their comfort zone or try something new. I have enough experience now to just push through it.

Here is where I am at now:







I encountered the following six steps in the creative process online somewhere:

1. This is awesome!
   
2. This is tricky
   
3. This is s**t
   
4. I am s**t
   
5. This might be OK
   
6. This is awesome!
   

I regularly go through this cycle.  In my current painting, I was at step 3 yesterday.  Please forgive me for waiting until I got to step 5 before writing the second installment!

Here was my painting at Step3:

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The colours weren't working in the background and I was fighting with the underpainting instead of embracing it.

I have several more days of work left to bring everything together and get to step 6 but I am confident I will get there.  I will keep you updated!