Picture Perfect? - May on Howe Road

May - Howe Road watercolor 19.5 x 13 ...and I am so not into picture perfect. If ever there was a painting that did not represent who I am as an artist, this is it. Done as a painting class landscape challenge, it represents the dichotomy of painting for class instruction versus painting for myself. This is a difficult situation. While there are seasoned artists in my classes who understand my processes and my desires to alter reality, there are also "newbies" who are just learning to put brush to paper or canvas. Most of the time, I can bridge this gap within. But this time not so much. I have never enjoyed sweet landscapes....blue sky, green trees and red barns. Oh, I so prefer the expressionism of Wolf Kahn! Watercolor portraits with strands of hair that look like wet noodles grate on my nerves. Romantic oil paintings, done in this real time, that seem to glorify the past (barefooted young maidens fetching water from the well while wearing peasant blouses and headscarves) make me tense. And so....this angst....urging me onwards to grow as an artist. A paradigm shift. I am ready.