Sketchbook prep for Variation 5Variation #5 is an abstract painted in exactly the same way that I taught you this year. I took a picture that I liked (you can see it on the sketchbook page) and I started to simplify the forms. As you can see the photograph was already quite abstract and so much of my work was already done for me. However, what you do not see here is that my first painting was a disaster, the colours were all wrong, the shapes too strict, it was quite awful. I painted this picture 3 times, which you might think is strange for something so simple looking, but I think that you know, simple looking is not easy to accomplish. I like the final piece. It feels true to the original idea and the colours work. It is a great portrait of Léon too.
Sharon Lacoste McDonagh, at Baie Sainte Marguerite, 2009Acrylic on Paper 10 x 10 cm
