in medias, rest

I was aiming to have this commission finished before the Great Move, but I am now conceding that it isn't going to happen.

It's a relief. I can't force things to go when they won't, and at this point I think it's better to put them away for a few weeks. Try as I might, I can't avoid this step: the one where I take a break.

So. I'll have new eyes when I unpack them, and I will know what to do next. I might even know how to solve the problem of color correcting my pictures in Photoshop. Because I am totally befuddled at the moment -- I don't know if this is what they look like, I've been looking at them too long:





In my last post I lamented about killing them -- all but erasing the underlying movement and quirky daubs of orange -- and although I'm still not satisfied with how they look at the moment, I'm no longer on the verge of tossing them on the pyre and starting over completely. So that's good.

Here are some close-ups of the bones, so you can see a little more of the texture from all the layers:





Here's the previous layer, the first resuscitation attempt:


And then I worked some more ochre over the gray and added some more definition to the bones:


They've gotten soft and quiet, subtle. Is that what I meant to do? Did I cover up the best part? Did the paint get away from me, or am I just being reluctant in following where they are meant to go?

Well. Let's let our eyes have a rest, shall we? Let the questions settle. There are boxes to pack and goodbyes to say.

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