My paintings

Well, I did a lot of work yesterday, but todays work is becoming a struggle. I have found out how difficult it is to paint contra flow spiral patterns. I made one start, and it was so bad I wiped it off. This painting could take a long time.
 
Day three, I found painting the contra flow spirals so difficult I had heart pains from stress and had to stop.
Then I went back to it and tried again but I have only done one sunflower and I am not happy with that. I will work on the center of the flower again tomorrow when its dry,
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but I am beginning to think this painting is doomed to be unfinished.
 
I gentlemen here in the US planted a large row of sunflowers along miles of country roads as a tribute to his deceased spouse last year. Perhaps some song birds and a nice red barn in the background?
 
I gentlemen here in the US planted a large row of sunflowers along miles of country roads as a tribute to his deceased spouse last year. Perhaps some song birds and a nice red barn in the background?

I attempted to spread sunflowers all over southern England a few years ago. I purchased large bags of sunflower seeds from a pet shop and threw handfuls of them every where I went. Unfortunately sunflower seedlings are very tasty to slugs and snails and they scoff them down to the ground. If you want sunflowers to survive in the wild you need to grow them big enough to tolerate slug attacks, and then plant them out. Never the less some of the thousand of seeds I dispensed did grow into flowering plants.

As for the painting, if it ever gets that far the background will be a sunset and a flock of rooks flying in the sky.
A tribute to Van Gogh, who felt persecuted by rooks when he was out painting cornfields.
 
Day four, I painted on the center of the sunflower I was working on, and it is slightly improved, but I am still disheartened and could not be bothered to do any more . It will take ages to paint them all in at this rate, and I have realized the small ones at the back are going to be even harder to do.
 
Day four, I painted on the center of the sunflower I was working on, and it is slightly improved, but I am still disheartened and could not be bothered to do any more . It will take ages to paint them all in at this rate, and I have realized the small ones at the back are going to be even harder to do.
They are beautiful though.

I love your sunflower/crow painting.
 
Day four, I painted on the center of the sunflower I was working on, and it is slightly improved, but I am still disheartened and could not be bothered to do any more . It will take ages to paint them all in at this rate, and I have realized the small ones at the back are going to be even harder to do.
They are beautiful though.

I love your sunflower/crow painting.

Thanks, I see from the photograph that I did a fair job of the contra flow spirals in that picture. I sold the painting ten years ago, so I no longer have it for reference and I cannot remember how I did it.
 
Hooray, a better day. I got up at 6am and so far I have painted for five and a half hours. I have done work on all the four sunflowers in the foreground and made some headway with the contra flow spirals.
 
Did no work yesterday but today I forced myself to paint for three hours. It started as a struggle but in the end I got quite a lot done, and I felt I am getting somewhere at last.
 
Day seven. Well its been one week since I started the painting of sunflowers and I have struggled with the center of the flowers. It is tedious work painting spirals. I got up at six this morning and worked for four hours. Here is a
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photo of my weeks work.
 
Remember this painting is six feet wide. I am wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew. I have doubts it will be good enough to give to the local hospital, which is what I planned for it. If it is not good enough it will just end up being thrown in a skip when I die, which is why I want to give it to a hospital where it will be on public display. But I have to try and think positively about the outcome, or I will not have the heart to finish it.
 
Struggling on with the painting. Only did two and a half hours yesterday, but I finished all the spirals. Have forced myself to do two hours today so far. I am now working on the petals of the flowers.
 
Got most of the sunflowers done, but now I am suffering from apathy because I cannot get the background greenery to look right.. It seems I have set myself one big ordeal.
 
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Well here is the work I have done in the second week. I have only worked an average of two hours a day and having done most of the sunflowers I am now struggling with the foliage behind them. The foliage needs a lot of work, and the photo didn't come out very well on the left side as the light was shining on it. In the actual painting the flowers look the same on both sides.
 
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Hooray, I have cracked the problem I was having with the foliage. The solution is to paint in a lot more bits of leaves in the gaps between the existing leaves. It will be a long job but I have hopes it will look ok in the end.
 
Hooray, I have cracked the problem I was having with the foliage. The solution is to paint in a lot more bits of leaves in the gaps between the existing leaves. It will be a long job but I have hopes it will look ok in the end.
It will be beautiful. It's beautiful now. Whatever else you do to it will be gravy.
 
Hooray, I have cracked the problem I was having with the foliage. The solution is to paint in a lot more bits of leaves in the gaps between the existing leaves. It will be a long job but I have hopes it will look ok in the end.
It will be beautiful. It's beautiful now. Whatever else you do to it will be gravy.

Thanks, the main reason I am photographing the painting as I go along and posting it here, is to commit myself to it in public, and that motivates me to carry on when I might otherwise give up. After all I do not want a public failure. Also I thought people might find the creative struggle interesting.
I am now thinking ahead to the next big problem, first I have to paint in clouds in the sky and then comes the difficult bit. I want to fill the sky with a flock of crows. But I was thinking that will be difficult and since they will be black I cannot afford to make mistakes as I will not be able to paint over them very easily.
So I have decided I will have to make a load of drawings of crows in flight, then transfer the drawings onto the canvas in coloured pencil. Then when I am satisfied with them I can paint them in.
 
Half way through the third week I am groaning. I cannot get the greenery to look right and I am just making a mess. I did not want my painting to be a public failure but its looking that way.
 
Well I am struggling on with the greenery but I can only bear half an hour at a time, then I have to back off.
It is looking a little better than it did this morning though.
 

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