Experiment

The middle two pictures are an experiment. I have been having trouble with the painting and can't seem to get it to "set", compositionally speaking. What I have done, to start, is to take some earth tones and make a mask of sort. (note: this is not to be confused with the times when I take a photo and my light source and camera setting doesn't jive and the resulting pic is yellowy or some such thing)
The intention is that it will help tie the picture elements together, make them less jarring if nothing else. There will be more to do to the piece. What that will be is a little unclear at this moment. It is and experiment. This means there will be some trial and error and some amount of flying blind as they say. It may be as simple as just adding white and black to build the shape of the subjects. It could involve using warm and cool colors in the appropriate places to create a sense of depth.
I think that this type of exploration is needed for me right now. One does hope to grow and even improve. Coloring outside the lines and building on the more creative improvisational aspects of painting seem to what is needed now.

it does occurs to me that there is a sepia looking aspect to the painting now and that this can be exploited. With the same ida that I am being too literal to the photo I am using as reference a choice to leave "color" behind could be useful. Some pre-thought and a few browns on the palette could be worth exploring. r.