Update on A New Direction

When I held a group painting event in my backyard in June, I began a huge painting of sheepdogs.  This was playtime for me, so I figured I'd piddle around with some of the "toys" I've been gathering for the past few years.  

 I added thickener to my acrylics and used knives to apply the gooey paint.  It's probably one of the loosest beginnings I've done in many years.  I loved it going on so fast.  


Two days later, I went into the studio and began adjusting. 

Now I had something to build upon.  Using a combination of knives and brushes, the painting began to take shape. 

Here I need to deal with some compositional issues...one dog is falling off the canvas and there is too much space on the other side.  I'm not about to repaint all three dogs and lose the spontaneity - I'll lose enough of that as it is.  So I need to balance the darks I think.  After a few more versions you won't see, here is the current painting.  

Since I'm working on this inbetween other paintings, it may be awhile before I resolve this one, but I'm very happy with the direction it's now taking.  It may be dogs, but it's a very different application and approach than in my previous work.   Fun.   Fun, fun.