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back in eureka the following summer, i tried mixing my colors closer to gray and working with a restricted range of values. i found a place to paint along the eureka waterfront the day after a cold storm had passed through, looking out over wetlands and the distant hills behind arcata. i worked by carefully matching paint mixtures to the hue and value of small areas of the landscape. the quality of light i got was cool and expansive, not something i had planned yet expressing the raw windy day. i've discovered that works i really like were often painted in moods of discouragement or frustration, or while i was being devoured by mosquitoes or hungry myself. it seems to me the idea that inspiration carries the day is a simplistic myth ... painting is work, and the best work sometimes is the hardest to get done. |
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