Among the new works I showed in Georgia were these three "Flying Fawn" paintings.
Originally, I had imagined a grouping of pieces that were a little different, a little more "finished". As I learned long ago, though...sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.
I am typically drawn to chipmunk-cheeked Winter mule deer fawns…but these lanky Summer youngsters loitering near my house were captivating. I wanted to try to capture their seemingly effortless bounding.
These are all small-ish, 12"x12" or 12"x16". The background is the simple wash I toned the surface with before starting. It was not intended as the "finish", so it is imperfect...but somehow worked better than anything else.
Sometimes "perfect" is relative.
As I started quickly scrubbing in the basic planes of the first one (the 12” x 12”)…something happened. It just “worked", painting it seemed as effortless as their bounding had been.
As my fellow artists know, they aren’t all effortless…far from it.
The second one bounded to life in much the same way…fun, loose.
It is easy to get caught up in the push toward your mind's eye version of "perfection"…much harder learning to stop before you go too far.
I suppose I could fix this or that. Soften an edge here and push the color there. Perhaps they could be better...but, to me, they “work” just as they are.
Anatomy, described by quick, thin, brush-scrubbed planes…thick, buttery highlights…and swashes of color.
Flying Fawns…as fun to paint as they were to watch.
The fawns didn’t find a home, but that gives me an excuse to play with a couple more before the next show!
(PS: Thanks to Walt and C.D., two of my art heroes, for noticing this trio and for the very kind words about them!)
Among the new works I showed in Georgia were these three "Flying Fawn" paintings.
