Painting Myth #2: I make mud continuing to paint after the surface is covered.

 I was happy, for a short while, with the directness and freshness. This would be a fine painting as is.  But early on I started to lean towards greater representation.
 Earlier I  posted about this imperfect painting with some parts more realistic than other parts. Then I stated making thumbnail sketches for ideas for other paintings.

As well as starting a new painting, I worked on an empty boat in the foreground. Then Elenore took her boat out to go fishing: I was enchanted as I have always been by Elenore.  So without staging the whole painting for her, I quickly added her.
 

At home I started out to minimize the boat into an unrecognizable shape. I didn’t have a palette knife so I used an eating utensil - a knife with a serrated edge. But for a happy accident, I was about to remove the boat and Elenore. Now she is a little more recognizable from a distance and in keeping with the way I abstracted the trees in the background.

I thought I would do a portrait of Elenor.  I will do a portrait of Elenore and her boat but not now. I continued to bring the eye to Elenor and at the same time created a movement away into the background.

When I continue painting even after the paint covers the canvas pleasingly, many things happen. Sure the colors can become more neutral but mud has more to do with indecision of the movement of your tool where the staccato is missing. When I continue to paint, I am apt to have a learning experience; Serendipity enriches me.