Progress Photos from the Painting “The Cosmos Made Conscious”

“The Cosmos Made Conscious” Oil on canvas 24″ x 30″ © 2012 Marilyn Fenn This painting started as an attempt to capture the beauty of a passion flower, and ended up as something completely different.  I started it in acrylic, too, as my previous work had come out quite well using acrylics, but for this work, the acrylics were just driving me crazy, so I quickly switched to oils. I really don't even know what to say about the progress shots during the change from a passion flower to this somewhat fanciful floral abstraction, except that sometimes when things aren't working, I have to do something to break the painting so that I can fix it. I'm very happy with the ways I simplified things, especially the way that mess of stuff to the right of the flower resolved into just lovely paint and space.  There is a lot of paint on this canvas -- juicy gooey paint smushing into more juicy gooey paint.  I love that!  :) However, I'm still not sure I consider this done yet; there are a few things on the edges that I think could probably be removed, simplified, or just dealt with differently. These progress photos were shot with warmer studio lights, while the final photo was shot in the cooler, bluer light of day. [gallery type="slideshow" ids="26602,26603,26604,26605,26606,26607,26608,26609,26610,26611"] If you like this painting as it is now, it is currently available in my shop.