Morning Sun at Glenthorne

I was looking forward to painting a scene, showing the Quaker Guest House and Conference centre at Glenthorne in the Lake District. We'd stayed there recently and it was lovely. Why not paint it on one of the larger canvases a friend had given to me? It measures 60cm x 50cms. But, come the morning, I was feeling a little bit chilly after a flu jab. Why not paint it first as a draft? So, I decided at the last minute to go for the paper option. And I'm glad I did. Before too long, the critical, egotistical voice in my head started telling me it was rubbish, even suggesting I should give up painting.

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Parts of the painting I really like. I've never painted a hillside before and I thought it came out well. The foreground too is a vibrant bright green. The building on the left appeals to me. It makes me smile, looking like heads popping out of the earth. It's the building on the right, the main building, that gets me down. It looked a mess. Granted, it is a tricky building to create, given its many rooves and outbuildings. But not that difficult! Well, I remembered the words of my tutors, "You can always paint over with acrylics." And so, for the first time, I did. I painted out the first effort and re-did it. You can see the changes in the progress shots. I felt tired and disappointed by my seeming lack of progress.

I put it on the 'A' stand on the window ledge in my living room, as I usually do, rejecting the whisper to bin it. Only later in the afternoon, looking at it, did I start to change my mind. Aspects of the main building turned out angles, lines and shadows, which look interesting. And, in any case, I reminded myself (or a small, quiet voice did), I paint as a hobby. I paint because I enjoy the time spent being 'in the painting'. And the reaction of friends on facebook has been encouraging. I had expected bats but, even allowing for the fact they're friends, they needn't have responded favourably.

And it's a draft version. I have learned quite a lot from the process. It isn't an existential test! It is fun. And I think I will examine the shapes of the main building next time by drawing it a few times. That's something that helps and gives me practice in drawing. 

And so I did.