Lean on Me

This is a departure from my usual. It follows two "wasted" 
painting sessions trying to paint an amaryllis blossom--just
could not get the values right however much I squinted; they 
were quite pronounced as shapes but so delicate, getting their 
relationships right was too much at this point. But, trying to 
achieve that delicacy meant holding the brush differently, which 
got carried over to these more solid forms. There's a burnt umber 
value study underneath, something I usually avoided because 
of time, but now find so helpful---like bones for the forms and 
structure for the overall painting. It also offers a map of the 
composition in terms of value that can easily be corrected before 
color enters and confuses. My composition struggles in the 
last post have also led to a realization with this one that composition 
is also as simple as relationship between lights and darks. The good 
thing about trying and failing is that the process itself transforms 
your brain so it's less obsessed with capturing likenesses of objects. 
Bottom line: time spent painting is never wasted!
I plan on painting this again, but not before I attempt "Sky" the current 
challenge for Some Texas Artists Like To Paint.