This is my first painting following a long needed break. I started with a loose red drawing and have been gradually building up the forms, allowing parts of the original marks to remain visible. I'm enjoying the process and feeling excited to paint again. I'm not feeling particularly stuck, but I'd love some fresh perspectives to inspire my continued exploration. I'm mostly curious about: - What do you notice about the relationship between the initial drawing and the painted forms? - Which passages feel most interesting or alive to you, and why? I'm less interested in figuring out how to finish the painting right now and more interested in discovering possibilities I might not have considered as I continue. Thanks!

Here are a couple drawings and subsequent painted responses. I am curious about a few things: 1. I love the directness of the drawings. There is a raw purity that gets lost when they are complicated by color and more detail. So can I pare paintings down to hold these qualities, or is it enough to allow the drawings to just be drawings? (side note, I don't usually thumbnail or sketch out anything before I paint - I was surprised by the drawings showing up as they did, and wanted to take them further - which I did in a mess of other drawings before going to the paint). 2. The doe painting seems closest to the drawings' qualities. I could probably simplify her even more, and yet I appreciate the distribution of marks across the whole surface - she has a sure-ity about her that I quite like. Perhaps this is something that requires another iteration. 3. The fawn painting might be over worked and too saccharine, but there's a certain magic she holds. I do want to try another version in a darker palette still, just to see if I can't make it a bit more foreboding. But also, after painting and drawing so many studies where fawn spots turn to moths, that idea now feels boring. The awe is gone. So another thing for me to think about is how to preserve that feeling of awe while working out the idea. 4. the first drawing on the crumpled paper is so intriguing - I am tempted to get out my oil paints and see what replicating/responding to this (including the page wrinkling and shadows) in oil might look like.

Let's try this again. My thought is that we can have a challenge inspired by the Critique Club meeting each month. What I'm left with after today's meeting is a curiosity to hear more about Stephanie's dark, back, Fire Woods and the experience of making that pastel painting of them! The Challenge should you choose to accept: Post a painting to the community feed that was a profound experience to create and tell us the story.

Giving monthly painting prompts. And it didn't catch on. As we spoke in CC this past weekend I thought that might be helpful when stuck. Is there something like this (or this) that you'd all like to participate in? Would you like to take turns giving them?

Great news! My new gallery came through. I like that the old voices about paintings that haven't sold for ages aren't worth showing can be reassured and soothed. Also that you can paint what is true for you (there are cigarettes in this one) against "good sales advice" and someone will relate and buy it anyway. It was the largest one I sent them, which is great. They texted me with genuine excitement and celebration, which I love so much.