Responding to Orange Sky, Purple Mountains.

Elizabeth insisted that I analyze my reaction to my paintings, as guidance. So, why do I love the painting below? First, the colors are fascinating to me: bright red-orange, tempered by dull violet and dull yellow-green, outlined by dark raw umber. I don't know what attracts me to the colors!

I like the drawing through the painting, outlining, highlighting, sometimes changing the shapes of the colors. This makes to pour more clearly intentional. I like the solution I found to the overabundance of orange-red and yellow; i.e. the pale violet-blue markings that subdue it, without making it duller.

I like the Asian feeling, which I made a bit cartoonish by adding the calligraphic marks on the left. I later took them out. Why, though, even without the marks does it feel Asian? Most viewers had the same feeling. I want very much to repeat that in future paintings. I also want to create more color combinations that give the same response.

So far, after about 10 paintings, I have not managed to do either! Instead, I found myself using pours in other ways. I have built up a good vocabulary of pours and strokes, using combs and other texture makers. Each time I was trying for a repeat, and each time I moved in a different direction. This is dire.