Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Back in Black (love that song)

Byzantine Blue Road, 2007, Oil on Panel, 36x48

Just wanted to say a quick hello. I returned home late last night and have a ton of stuff to do today. Doug did an excellent job of handling things while I was gone (it was a very busy weekend and the poor guy spent all day Saturday dropping off and delivering children-welcome to my world!), but he did miss a few things. Like laundry. Of course it's not hard to get behind on that around here as missing a day or two can really cause a backlog what with six people and all.

Anyway, I plan to make good on my new daily schedule (um, even though I have already kind of messed it up by sitting here this morning, reading through some blogs and putting up this post) so I need to work in my studio today and then have much to do get things back to normal around here. Heh.

I will post on Wednesday about my trip.

PS. The image above is of a painting that I really struggled with. The underpainting was really nice, but from then on I was afraid of it, mostly because of the size of the panel. I am still having a hard time with the larger sized panels. And the fear showed in the piece. At one point, neither Doug nor I thought it would be salvageable, however I kept plugging away at it and managed to wrestle it into submission. The gallery director accepted it and it is on its way to Multiple Impressions in NYC (Doug is driving into the city today and will deliver it for me).

11 comments:

meno said...

I went oooooh, when i first saw the picture, and in a good way.

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks Meno, nice to hear that you like the painting. I should add that this is one that looks SO much better in person. In the photo I can see my fear a bit, but I don't see it in the actual painting. Go figure:)

Mary Klein said...

I like this one a lot. It drew me in right away - the dark foreground first, then the burgundy trees, the orange ones and on down the road to that mysterious lavendar background - a very, very nice trip!

Lynnea said...

I noticed the darker hues right away and I like the drama of it. It has beautiful movement which the eye cannot avoid and the richness of color really moves the painting into you. If that makes sense. In the end it all means that I really love it too.

Unknown said...

I really like this painting. Your fear is opposite of mine. I much prefer larger paintings and smaller ones make me tense up! Weird, huh?

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks Mary, Maggie and Jayne, for your comments about this piece. I am glad to hear that it does draw the viewer in. I spent so much time on it that it was hard to see after awhile.

gary rith said...

Oh yes, gorgeous picture.

te said...

I love the painting and the song!

Kris Shanks said...

Funny how the paintings you struggle with can turn out really good or really bad. I really like the range of color in this one - glad you didn't give up on it 'cause I really like it.

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks Gary and Roxanne.

And Kris you sure are right about pieces you struggle with can be really bad or really good.

And thanks for the compliment about the piece.

I am starting to get a big head about this piece:)

Steppen Wolf said...

Beautiful and that is one of your larger canvases...