No, I can not leave well enough alone and that is not a bad thing.

After I finished Dancing In Lavender - for the third attempt at this triptych! - I hung it on the wall and lived with it for awhile. Sometimes it's the only way to really know how I feel about a piece of art. I liked it well enough. I had even dared to think I would leave it alone.

Uh ... nope.

I couldn't exactly put my finger on it but something about it wasn't working for me. With it hanging on the wall, which is opposite where I sit here at the computer, I could look over and study it when I was online. I had to walk past it going to the kitchen or the bedroom ... or vice versa - from the kitchen to the studio, etc. I could either glance over at it in passing or I could stop and really look at it. I could analyze how it 'fit' in the room.

Over the past couple of weeks I grew more and more dissatisfied with how it looked. It didn't represent what I was trying to express. It didn't feel calm. It looked flat and uninteresting. I realized I wasn't pleased with the particular shades of purple I had used. It didn't have any sparkle. What to do?

By now, y'all should know I am a big, big, big fan of the do-over. Hallelujah for a fresh coat of paint - or in this case, gesso. Like an eraser on a pencil. Gotta' love it.

Off the wall and back to the studio it went!

I didn't take the work-in-progress photos because I pretty much did the entire background in one sitting. Anything that wasn't working was quickly painted over and I'd go at it again while everything was still wet. When I was satisfied with the background I let it dry overnight. The next morning I added the green lines and dots - got some kind of dot fixation going on - and let it dry for a couple of hours. Next came the gold. Dry an hour. Painted the edges (1.5" gallery wrap canvas) with the exact same paint we used on the living room walls so the image would visually 'float' away from the wall. Dry an hour. Hang it back up.

Am liking it.

Dancing In Lavender, version II ...

Detail of background ...

More detail of background. I just love the swirls and blending of colors! ...

Detail of gold sparkle ...

Side angle ...

For me, this triptych is so much more pleasing. I love the colors, pale and watery. It has an overall quiet feeling even though there is technically a lot going on with the movement of the colors. It feels restful. My only complaint is I wish it were larger!

Now I'm off to the studio to paint some sea turtles. My inspiration is this mixed media painting I did several years ago entitled Ocean of Time ...

I've been wanting to do another version, something larger but with the same expression. I pulled a 24"x48" canvas out of the closet and am going to start on it now ...

Namaste, y'all ...