Up the Ohio

Today I was in Madison for a few hours so I walked down along the Ohio river and did a quick painting. Before I even had my materials out a barge floated by and it was neat to watch a massive piece of metal to float down the river. I kicked myself for not taking any pictures but the scene was beautiful so I set up everything anyway. Then as soon as I had the under painting done another barge came around the bend. I'm happy with how the boat pushing the barge turned out. It was quick and ended up looking better than everything else in the painting. The rest of the painting was filled with problems. The light blue I used for the sky and parts of the water ended up getting muddy as soon as I smudged it the slightest. Typically I use large bold strokes and don't blend, but I want pastels that can do both without creating mud. So that blue had to go. The composition also seems lacking. It isn't the worst painting I've done by far, but it is boring. With that being a problem I'm not sure any amount of reworking can fix it. It is starting to feel good being able to wipe down a painting even if there are parts to it that I like. The urge to keep everything that is even slightly successful in one aspect is diminishing. This is the beginning of a new chapter as far as space saving in my studio is concerned. Also it feels good to know that everything doesn't have to be great. They are just exercises for when a great idea for a painting pops into my head.