The Awkward Stage

My pelican painting is progressing very well. It's passed the "awkward stage" which is always a relief to me. All my paintings reach a certain stage where they look hopeless, usually about halfway through the painting process. There is a point where I think I've ruined it, made such a mess of it I might as well throw it away and start over. When I first started painting that's what I did. There was one painting I threw away four times, but each time I thought of some way I might improve it and retrieved it from the recycle bin. Eventually I learned to trust the painting process and myself.

Back to work

After a trip and updating my website, I can finally get back to painting, thank goodness. I'm starting a painting of brown pelicans.

This painting, "Pelicans and Friend", was painted when I lived in Lakeport, CA. We had a house on the lake, and there was an endless array of waterfowl on the water and in the tule reeds. From my studio I could watch the nesting, hunting and migration of a vast variety of birds. My favorites were the white pelicans. They were as graceful as swans gliding on the water, and magnificent in flight. 

Now that we live near the coast, we see a lot of brown pelicans. While they aren't as beautiful as the white pelicans, they have their own charm and I think they'll make an interesting painting.