This canvas has a history. I first painted on it in the early 1990s, when I was living in Needham and experimenting with realism and impressionism. I painted a fall sunset, trying to capture what I saw rather than yet knowing how I wanted to paint.
More than twenty years later, I pulled the canvas out again. I painted over that original sunset, working with brushes and a silicone basting brush and trying to capture the colors and reflections of a sky.
At one point, while the paint was still wet, a flash photograph caught the surface in a way that looked like reflected light. I tried to recreate that effect intentionally—and couldn’t.
I also listened to other people’s opinions about what the painting should become instead of trusting my own instincts. That didn’t work particularly well either.
Eventually, I stopped trying to make it perfect.
Flaws & All – Imperfection became part of learning to listen to my own voice.