Sometimes You Get a DUD

Sometimes You Get a DUD

I would never normally post paintings that I consider duds or unworthy of showing, but I’ve done quite a few lately, and thought why not? In thinking about it, it might be fun to show a few dead end paintings. It’s all part of the process..Along the Acqueduct, Palmiro Togliatti24x30cmOil on Panel© Kelly Medford, 2011One of the things about painting on site is that sometimes I just don’t capture the scene. This happens for lots of reasons, but usually because I didn’t block in the composition right and it’s a failure and/or the light is just moving too fast and it was a matter of bad timing. Sometimes people stop to chat and I lose my concentration, or even worse is after I’m halfway into a painting I realize I just can’t make it work with the size panel I put up on the easel.Whatever the case may be I produce a lot of duds. I’m not sure of the ratio between dud and successful paintings that turn out, it varies. Of course sometimes I think I’ve got a keeper and would have been better off left in the dud pile.Piazza Bernini, San SabaOil on Panel8x10″© Kelly Medford, 2011I know that a lot of painters go back and use their sketches more as refrence material for later more finished paintings. So far I haven’t been able to do much of that. These are more like incomplete thoughts where I haven’t fully observed a place in all of its nuances. For me, making finished paintgs or sketches on site is having a complete thought and capturing fully the place in that moment, and sometimes maybe I am unclear about the objective, so I leave these as visual “notes” that I can look back at later and decide whether or not its worth it to go back and try, try again. Really, it’s all a work in progress..