Before and After, Then and Now, or Never Say Never Again!

"Camellia Love" (oil, 8" x 10")
sold

As I said in the previous post, I was busy working on old paintings this month.  I am sharing a bunch here.  A couple of paintings became a lot worse after "improvements", so they ended up in a trash basket.  You cannot rise higher without taking risks and making sacrifices, right?

So, what do you think of my efforts?  Am I getting better?

"Ducks and Geese" (oil, 8" x 12")
sold

"Lavender Heaven" (oil, 11" x 14")
click here to buy

"Lincoln Memorial Reflections" (oil, 8" x 10")
sold

"Primrose Season" (oil, 10" x 10")
sold

"Rockefeller Center Spring" (oil, 10" x 8")
sold

"Sacred Ground, Chichester Cathedral" (oil, 8" x 10")
 click here to buy

"San Francisco's Painted Ladies" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

"Strawberry Pickers" (oil, 16" x 20")

"Primrose Season" (oil on canvas; 10" x 10") sold

sold

Siebold's primroses are blooming under a canopy of a tree.  What a bright, cheerful sight it is! Obviously it is not the primrose season yet.  I took the reference photo for the painting last April at the Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA.  It took almost a year to get around to paint these lovely flowers because I was intimidated by the look of the lettuce-like leaves.  Yes, I often get stymied by my own timidity!

Yesterday I decided to go for it.  Why not?  I am pleased with the result.  I am even more pleased with the fact that I painted on a day that started out rather lousily.  I had waken up feeling tired and achy.  I was tempted to take a day off.  In the end, I thought better of it and started painting.  And it happened again.  Almost immediately I felt more energetic and alive.  I really don't know how I lived before I discovered art.

Reference photo