A while back I went through my collection of paintings and picked out ones that I didn’t feel were quite finished, or had gotten to their true personality. Some of them I didn’t want to revisit and I donated them to the charity shop or else threw them out. And the ones I felt a connection to, however faint, I got to work in trying to pull more out of the picture. I will show you a small selection of three paintings that went through this process.
Here’s the original version. I did this one back in fall of 2020.
I was not satisfied with this picture from the time I made it, but I did like the intensity of color, so I did not paint over it then. I do remember that in composing it, I made some decisions, developed some “favorite areas” in the painting that I did not want to change, and breaking my own rule, got too attached and forced the rest of the painting into fitting with them. I also wanted more detail and liveliness in the picture.
Here it is after my work. Once again I kept the basic structure but added more paint, did a lot of work with my acrylic markers, and went crazy filling up every inch with a lot of pattern and line.
Well, now I am happy with things here. There is a sense of things happening, and I like that.
Here’s a quick overview of the three paintings and their current looks. Sometimes it just takes time to get to the place where things are as they should be, doesn’t it?
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
They look great! 🙂
Thank you!
I have the inclination of constantly tinkering at previous works too. An artistic creation is never finished, just abandoned. By adding more detail to some of your previous works you can clearly see the way your artistic vision has been growing over time, away from a conceptual approach towards a more figurative style.
Thank you. I have often said that for me an artwork is never finished until I sell it or someone takes it away from me, or I give it away – anything so it’s out of my reach and I can’t get the idea to work on it anymore!
Wonderful
Thank you!
I like the added detail in all of these. It gives focus and punch but does not at all detract from the main image.
Thank you. You know me, more is more! if only I don’t go overboard. But I always felt this one was begging for more details.
I still the original of the first painting, all the others came out even better with additions.
*❤️ the first, I hate when I type a word and it seems to disappear right as I hit send 😡
For the first one, as I think about it, I think it reminded me too much of an image I did in collage some years ago and I could not get rid of the feeling I had repeated myself too much in this one. So it had to change (or else get thrown out and I didn’t feel it deserved that fate…) I see what you mean about the Zen feeling of the first version.
Thank you for sharing this process of revisiting a piece.
You’re welcome. I don’t like to let something go if I don’t feel I have gotten to the full potential of it, but sometimes it really takes a lot of time. And sometimes also it takes being in a different mood or having more energy or something, or else…as you know, one day you suddenly see things differently and you feel compelled to follow it!
I like that conjurer. And the transition from one to the other–the spells appear. (K)
Thank you. I do feel these three paintings had a bond, which is odd, since originally I did not make them together, but this time I worked on them one alongside each other, and I remember being in a certain mood, I can’t describe it, but kind of exuberant but at the same time deliberate and aware. It was an interesting experience, regardless of how these look, visually (though I am really happy with them now and when I rotate paintings in my house they stay together).
startling tranformations
Yes, quite different. Shows you what a little time passing can do to enlarging or augmenting your ideas, or sending them in a different direction.
The equivalent of keeping a manuscript in a drawer to lie fallow for a while ?
Yes, I think it’s the same thing!