Flash Back to an Old Painting

I was at my brother’s place earlier this month celebrating his birthday. I came across one of my old paintings hanging in the hallway. I know it’s old because it has my old signature (Dan Scott instead of D.Scott). I must have painted it over 12 years ago.

It features New Zealand at twilight. I believe I painted from one of my sister’s photos. She lived there for a few years and took magnificent photos of the landscape and the starry nights.

You can see my early interest in Impressionism, with the pointillism, broken color, and directional strokes. I was perhaps a little heavy handed in my approach but that’s the way it goes when you first start learning something.

This painting also reminds me of a time when I painted unburdened by much knowledge and experience. I made it up as I went. “Does this look good? Yes, I’ll do more of that. No? I’ll try something else.” I wasn’t thinking about color theory and what makes sense. Of course, this led to many mistakes, but it was a freeing way to paint. I never knew what direction the painting would take.

Every now and then I try to get back in touch with that way of painting. I try to forget all the theory and paint purely from my gut and what feels good. It’s not easy to do!

Also, we are running a brief promotion on our Composition Breakdown course. For the next 6 days, you can join at a reduced price and receive several bonuses.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.