content with less than perfection

With more than a week off from work, I was finally able to pull out that canvas I bought months ago and work on the painting in my head.  Step-by-step, I worked and I had determined beforehand that I would decide to be content with less than perfection.  It was an attempt and I would learn from it and I would hang it up in my home and be content with it...and on another day, I would make another attempt and apply what I learned and enjoy that result as well.

This is the largest piece I've done in a long time...another way I wanted to stretch myself.  It is a 24 x 36 inch canvas.  It's also in acrylics which I haven't worked in for years.

surprises

Often the most pleasing outcomes are surprises.  This small painting was the result of some basic painting technique exercises out of a watercolor painting instruction book.  The purpose was to practice with washes and painting wet-on-wet and though I practiced several times, this one turned out particularly nicely and I've had it hanging in my house in various places for a few years.  I love the simplicity of it and the placement and composition.  It also illustrates the fact that every single painting is unique even if you're copying another's work for the purpose of learning and that often the most pleasing results come as a complete surprise, even to the artist.