Latest Waste of Good Oil Paint

The trouble with creating something from scratch is that we see the end result in a perfect or idealized state.  That's just the way our minds work.  Transferring what we see with our heads onto canvas, or any other artistic endeavor for that matter,  is what determines our level of success.  Shakespeare knew all about it and said as much in Hamlet's Soliloquy: "Aye, there's the rub."  

The Cabin in the Woods has a nice garage area so on a event-less afternoon I started to transfer something onto the large canvas I had lying around.  I'm going through a dark phase so I plastered the thing with black gesso and began to see what I had in mind for the thing, and it was pretty neat.  But putting that onto the blank blackness, aye, that's what separates true artists who command thousands for their work to guys like me who have closets full of these things.  But since I have a pension, I'm not in the starving artist category.  I can tinker with oils and not get too serious about it or too stressed out.  My problem isn't "perfection of the craft", it's   staying motivated.     

And so, as the days slipped by and I kept staring at the black canvas, the idea in my noggin began to take shape.  I thought of people I know who can turn something inside out and back and forth and see all the sides, like Mr. Sutor.  Then I thought of my friends who say keep it simple, like Mr. Stage, and I begin picturing what the final painting will look like.  Then I reexamine again.  Anything I should add?  Anything that isn't right?  Is it balanced?  And then I begin.  

Sadly for you, my time up North ended with the painting looking like this.  But I will return and finish it, hopefully.  I know exactly how it will look, in my head.  How you will see it, well, that's the rub.