The last Saturday of March, I brought in Harvard Gulch alley for critique. I have been working on it since. Kevin voiced much of what I had been thinking. It is interesting to note, that the one area he really liked he said I should repeat in the one area where it was weakest. That was all I needed to hear, as I knew what the weak link was – I just didn’t realize what the strong area was. He said he particularly liked the upper left hand corner; the trees and the light. Funny thing is, that was one of my major areas of trouble, so I finally got tired of trying to replicate the photo and went right into orchestration. Ie what did I want from it, and then I just went for it. Getting a rhythm going with movement and color which I then carried into the whole mass of trees that create the backdrop. So Now I had to Do That with the snow and melting snow on and around the alley…Snow is not my forte, but I have been studying it more intently while the past two storms went into melt mode. Not with paint, unfortunately, but going out and watching the play of light and shadow and seeing what the pavement looks like with wet snow in light and shadow which had gotten me stuck. Looking at the alley now, I may have overdone it, as is my wont. But at least I have it reading better and simplifying is becoming easier for me to do, once I have gone overboard first. I do love oil paint and its forgiving nature.

Another thing he told me was to unite the light by using a mother color, and do the same in the shadows. I thought I had done that in the shadows but I apparently went to far there as well. I do think the light is popping more now. I still have a few things to touch up, but I am just about there.