New Art And Thoughts

   I'm proud of the effort I've put in on the studio overhaul. I have room to move now. I have my computer desk, my drawing table, my easel, and my papasan chair all strategically located. I'm still in the process of sorting my art supplies, but I would like to say this: "Holy Crap! I've got a lot of cool supplies!" Way more brushes than I thought. I'm gonna guess at least three hundred, but there could be another hundred or so. Brushes that range from twenty five cents to one hundred and fifty dollars. I'd forgotten how many I had. That's also the same thing I ran into with my watercolors. I had them all together, and knew where they were. Really nice, expensive colors. Cadmiums. Ceruleans. Lapis Lazuli. Gold. Actual gold (although I guess it's not technically a watercolor). Then tonight, as I'm clearing space on the other side of my easel I find a good sized tote with more watercolors. It was just like Christmas. I usually hate Past Doug. He has usually spent all our money and put me in a bind. I also usually feel bad for Future Doug, because he has to deal with all the mistakes I make. He's usually broke and working extra because of me. Eh, there's nothing any of us can do about it.
   I'm also painting as I de-clutter. Here's one of the new ones:

 I like it, but I had it pictured differently in my mind. I'm not really able to put my finger on what I'd like to be different. That's part of the "pain only an artist feels" that I was talking about a couple weeks ago. Then there's this one:

I like this one. It turned out pretty much like I wanted it to. I like paintings like this, but I love the ones that my me work to get a good result. They may not even look as good as the others, but I remember the struggle and how I came out on top. It makes me feel good.
    I also came across some notes and pictures from about ten years ago. I wrote about getting new studio plants, just like I did four weeks ago. I also found a sketch I had made about a semi abstract idea I had. It was a face with black lines running vertically and horizontally across the picture plane. I did a double take, because it's basically the blue print for the painting I did a while back that looked like this:

Sometimes my ideas have to germinate before I set to work on them. Sometimes it may be several years.
  So here are the other two paintings I've finished. Remember, you're seeing them here first. I'm also gonna post all four so I have to get new material for next week. Poor Future Doug.

I like the face. The hair, eh, not so much.

This one grows on me. It's not what I pictured, but I didn't really picture a finished product. It's hard for me to explain. I guess I thought it would be darker.