One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

On Tuesday my physiotherapist showed me how to do a really deep neck stretching exercise. She thought I was ready for it. I wasn’t. My poor neck. This kind of forward and backward progress of healing mirrors where my painting has gone over the past few weeks. I was not happy with the studio landscapes so I switched to portraits. The outcome so far has been a couple decent portraits and two “meh” ones. I did get out to plein air paint once and came home with a landscape I am happy with.

This situation is frustrating all ’round and yet… I will look at it as a time to ponder where I am going with the work and to be inspired by others. My friend Fiona pointed me to the work of Edwige Fouvry. I prefer her landscapes to the portraits. Her work is extremely loose and though I don’t see myself going to that extreme, I do appreciate it. My work is not loose enough yet so it makes me want to push myself. Perhaps loosening my painting up will allow my neck to let go!