Sometimes you don’t get it quite right the first time.

Sometimes you want to look at an object from a different angle, focus on a different detail, maybe you’ve thought of a better composition. 

Paint it as many times as you want to, need to, can.   Become an expert in that one item.

When I was first starting out, the idea of painting the same thing twice seemed like a waste of time to me.  Why would I spend my precious time painting the same thing twice when I had SO MANY IDEAS to get to?  

But sometimes the execution didn’t go as planned – the colors were muddy, the composition was off, I was feeling rushed – and the result didn’t match the feeling I wanted to convey. As I began to paint more frequently, I found myself tempted to revisit these earlier subjects

I keep a folder on my desktop of photos I’ve taken for future inspiration.  One of my favorites was a pitcher of sunflowers.  I made three different paintings based on this one photo last year: a small 5 by 7 study on board (ex. 1), done quickly in one afternoon, followed by a larger version on canvas (ex. 2).  The second one came out better than the first, but still didn’t feel satisfying.

There’s a reason we call them “studies” – repetition until a subject is learned – observation, practice, experimentation all part of the fun. I took what I had learned from the first two paintings and applied them to a third (ex. 3). What do you think?