Mister Black, Ferns, And Comma Fish
16 x 16"
oil on wood

Yesterday I did a second Painting a Day called Mister Black with Iris but it was not too good. I painted over it today and this is it. I got re-inspired as I figured out what happened and why the Iris one didn't work.
You see I really liked the 24 x 24" - Mister Black with Red Pear and I wanted to paint it again but go in different directions with certain things.
The first problem with this is that Mr. B Red Pear was 24 x 24 and this canvas is 16 x 16. In MB Red Pear, Mr. B was larger than life size. On the 16 x 16 I had to paint him smaller than life-size to get him all on the canvas. Something about making him a bit larger than life-size was key to what the painting was talking about. I took the "take what you get" stance and adjusted to the smaller canvas by cropping Mr. B. It will be interesting in future paintings to see how little of him I can paint and you still know what he is.
The other mistake was using irises. This is a really good lesson, I need to remember, "Don't paint things you don't find interesting to paint!" I love irises but am not inspired by them to paint them. Easy to confuse. And I love to paint, but not just anything. I have more to "say" about philos and Mr. B and pears, & patterned fabrics than I do about irises, etc. So in this one I am back to philos, the skinny kind. And Sallie's fish that sometimes look like commas, and my dear Mister B. Oh and a yellow patterny tablecloth. The paint is getting creamier and swishier and a bit more abstract. I like this direction.

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