Wind Chimes

I almost always have a reference photo when I paint.  It's very rare for me to paint out of my own imagination, but I have great appreciation for those who can do that successfully.

My Weekly-ish Challenge was to paint something "Metal."  I waited and waited for the muse to show up with inspiration, and  I finally "heard her" in the tinkling coming from the back porch.

I'm pretty sure I have "a thing" for wind chimes... both outside and inside. 

I had a grand idea to paint picture with chrome wind chimes over a porch with pretty flowers in a copper pot and a metal washtub and maybe a brass bell.

I found some photos of the different parts and tried to make those fit together in my mind. I sketched it on paper to find a nice composition then painted what imagined in acrylics.

Well... that didn't work.  Pretty much everything was off. I left it for the night... to see if the art fairies would show up and make it better... they did not.

I decided to use the whole thing as an underpainting and fix it with oils.

* deepen the sky... *skinny up the windchime... *give the rosebush some shadows and highlights..." get rid of the concrete and the table, make it a deck... "lower the pots and make them bigger... *lose the yellow flowers and tall flowers

And... just like that... with those little changes (HA!) it became a nice little painting.  Sadly though, it's really not a successful painting. The copper pot...? How about if we just be satisfied for it to be a terra cotta pot, okay?  

Yes, it's a nice enough little painting, but it won't get to find its way into my Etsy shop.  If you zoom in (or rub your fingers across it) there are remnants of the chime on the far right that I removed. You can faintly see where the chime ring was bigger at the top.  You probably wouldn't notice it if I didn't point it out, but the texture of paint where the taller flowers have been covered up is there. And, finally, the sky covering the rosebush that is no longer there, is a little discolored. 

So... boo... good try, but  not quite there.

Original Oil Painting on 10"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

If you're interested in having this sweet little painting for yourself... even after I've pointed out all its flaws, just contact me here.  I bet I can make you a good deal.  If you want to see other paintings, have a look in my Etsy shop.