Just a few subtle changes, but I feel better about the draperies. The eagle has landed on the flag pole, and the blue flag background is drying in preparation for the stars. Another wonderful quote that I can attribute to Brian Hoover is, "Don't make decisions based on laziness or fear." I have to admit I didn't want to deal with painting stars on the flag. I looked everywhere for an image of a flag on a pole that only showed the stripes. Yes, sometimes I am that ditzy. When I figured it out, I realized just how lazy I was trying to be and put in the blue flag. Why do we so often insist on taking the easy way out? We are creatures that constantly veer to the path of least resistance when it is after a job hard fought and well done that we feel the very best.
Drapery
I love painting cloth. There's something about watching the hard and soft edges and the value changes bring depth and form the canvas. And I'm typically pretty good at, even if I do say so myself. But these draperies are not cooperating. There are only two things that can go wrong - shape and color - so I walked away and will go back to it after I've taken a break. I simply can't decide if it's shape, color, or both.
Soft Shoulder
When I was young I was always confused about the road signs that said "Soft Shoulder". How did they know my shoulders were soft? I would lean my head over and rub my cheek against my shoulder and feel how warm and soft it was and wonder why they made a sign about it. Today she got a soft sleeve on her soft shoulder. I worked on her hand again as well. It just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do, so I turned it on more of an angle and I'm liking it much better. Now the paint is too wet and I'll have to wait until tomorrow to play with it again, but at least it's starting to do what I want.