What to do with a painting that you love but needs some fixing? This is the dilemma I have with my yellow rose painting done in the beautiful garden at the Art Center Padula. It arrived with some damage. The only one that I did not take the time to wrap properly and it has some smudges, which might have helped it and some scrapes. Nothing hard to fix, a little paint here, and there and they go away. What does not go away is the carelessness of the drawing. In my earnest to get at the “light”. I neglected the drawing. It is not bad but could have been executed more carefully. However, it is my experience that when painting outside in the landscape you must sacrifice some of the drawing and go for the light and color.

So here is my “fix”. Begin by really looking at the painting as it presents itself. Decide what you like about it first, which is very important. I like this painting alot because of its freshness and ease of execution. It was a pleasure to paint.

It has taken me years to feel confident enough to make these kind of changes. It is very hard to go back into a painting. Much easier to start over but I am not willing to give up on this piece because I like it so much.

The goal now is to use the information that is there in the painting a “build” on that. I am not making any drastic changes to form or color. I will enhance rather than obliterate what I already have.

This is as far as I want to take this piece. “Yellow Roses, Padula Garden” is completed. There was a trade off from the original but I am satisfied with the results.