more painting in progress

Still working on the painting I posted last month. This has turned into a textbook example of how sometimes I hit a wall and need to do something really radical and even destructive to get around it. All the paintings I've done that I really love went through a really difficult stage like that. Usually it's an exercise in letting go of something to get something better in the end.

In this case, I've been fiddling with the sky endlessly, carefully painting around all those nice collaged pieces with itty bitty brushes. But all that carefulness made the sky feel really awkward and flat, so I finally realized I'd have to sacrifice the collaged bits to get the sky right. So I'm finally happy with the sky, and I can still see the outlines of the collaged pieces, which will get painted back in, hopefully for the better!