I decided to try a muted wash and hated the result. The colors were much duller than I had anticipated, a far departure from my usual bright, uplifting theme. I wanted to throw the project away and start over, but a little voice in my head stopped me cold.
“Are you sure? All paintings have an ugly stage.”
This, in fact, is true. Maybe my struggle was not so much about the wash as about the unknown. This wash had a completely different feel, and I didn’t know how to handle it.
So I left the painting for a few days, returning at intervals to study its dark, subdued colors. At the end of the week, I still had not found any answers in the paint or in my persistent stares. Still, I wasn’t ready to give up.
Instead, I took a needed break, traveling with my husband to one of my favorite places, Dawes Arboretum. After our hike, we completed our visit with a drive through the park to enjoy the fall colors.
My husband saw it first, a single tree, blanch white, standing tall against a backdrop of darker trees and fading colors. A few colorful leaves remained on the tree’s twisting branches. I knew immediately that the tree belonged in the painting. Several days later, I completed “Echoes of Autumn.”
What did I learn from this experience? Perhaps the subdued colors were just what the background needed to pop a more colorful landscape. Maybe the “ugly” wash just needed a different pair of eyes.
But most of all, I learned not to give up on what might initially appear hopeless. You never know what tomorrow might bring.