Perseverance and Patience

"Golden Day"  Pastel 12 x 9 © Donna Gross
Available donnatheresafineart.com

This is a reworked piece.  The first "draft" was a total flop. Disjointed color scheme coupled with an unflattering composition of trees made for a mess... I went to bed unsatisfied with my efforts that day...yesterday.

Back at it today, I scrubbed the pigment from the paper ( the joy and versatility of the pastel medium!) gave it an alcohol wash and let it dry.  I had a plan. Which I did not have the first try.....

Lesson learned....

I picked my palette ahead of time and did not veer away from the colors chosen even though there lay a candy store variety of colors in front of me....

The result is a much more harmonious composition coupled with a fair rendering of the late afternoon  sun.  

It took perseverance and patience.  Perseverance to not give this composition up to the trash bin.  Patience to let the painting tell me what it needs and then respond. Sometimes, on rare occasion, the painting paints itself...or parts of it.  And so this is the segue to the life lesson...Always a life lesson!! Art shows me the way to serenity....persevere for your passion and have an abundance of patience to let it unfold in it's own timely fashion...and watch the moments of magic unfold....