Speed skater I final - Started off like a lion, finished like a mouse!

With this one, I tried to separate colors instead of blending them too much. I also tried to play intense colors against attenuated ones (leaving them adjacent to each other)...

This was also an attempt to do textures on a loose piece of canvas temporarily fixed with duct tape on a board. I mixed modeling paste with heavy gel 50/50 to make textures more flexible and prevent crackling during storage (I roll my canvases). There was not too much buckling... it will be interesting to see how it stretches.

Although this painting is interesting to look at, I don't think I will perpetuate this model. I'm in the mood to experiment these days, but in the end, I want to produce decent images I can live with. For some reason, with this subject matter, going half way between a super loose rendition and pure realism just doesn't cut it for me: it should be either one or the other! More importantly, I also find that large masses of nuanced colors are more powerful than "a dab of this and a dab of that"!

For my next painting, I'm lining up this Yoga pose... having lost my "pompous ass" attitude, and evidently using a fail-safe approach to mark my return to the series!

Note to self: " If I want to do expressionism, I should start like a lion and finish like a lion! In that line of thinking, the spirit of the 3rd pass was better (unfinished and full of bright colors!). I realize I don't like attenuated (grayed) colors any more!"