Step 11, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation

Just a few additions to the righthand side, trying to give the righthand portion an inviting, peaceful, "beckoning" appearance. (Note my addition to the title of the word "Liberation" - it's a possibility I'm now considering.) I'm just about ready to start doing sometthing with that center woods section now -- I think I have determined a way to start into that portion.

I'm chuckling as I type this because one of my friends told me on Wednesday, after looking at the beginnings of the shrouded figure I have in the lower left hand section, that she thought it looked like a grub. I'm not sure that's all bad -- Sarah was at a pretty low point at that time in her life. How much lower could anyone get than a grub?

Step 10, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation

Today's post is primarily a case of my wanting to add the image and see how it looked to me, presented in a different way. I guess I've been looking at it too long today. Since the theme of the piece is, after all, as its working title suggests - "Transformation" -- it's intentional on my part that the woods on the left looks quite different from the woods on the right. But while I like both sides individually, I'm still completely unclear as to how I want to make the needed transition in the middle of the composition. I guess it's a good thing that I won't be able to work on it again for at least a day or two! Maybe some time away will help me see it in a new light, just as seeing it in this posted, "mini" version might do.

Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation, Step 9

I've reached the point where this is starting to get very exciting to work on. It's interesting to me that for so long, the idea that I didn't know every last detail of what I was doing in a given composition was terribly intimidating to me. But now, having a basic plan in mind but staying open to the possibilities, the twists and turns that may present themselves, is what I find really interesting about creating art. I'm still a bit vague about exactly what's going to happen in the middle section of this woods, but occasionally I stop and add color and step back to see if I like the additions. And I'm definitely OK with the "not knowing", for now. I find that phenomenon interesting, and wonder if there's a similarity there to how Sarah Emma may have felt as she worked on her new, untested identity.

Step Eight, Sarah Emma Edmonds II:Transformation

I've darkened the trees on the lefthand portion of the composition, adding more branches to appear like more of a barrier to the brightly-colored woods beyond. I've also added a first layer of color (Tuscan Red) to the trees on the righthand side. I decided I needed to work a little more overall, not spending so much time developing the left side. In the middle section I'm less clear on what direction I'm going; I eventually want a more secluded, "sheltering" type of appearance to the woods and don't know exactly what that means to me, in terms of color and value. So while I give that some thought, I added trees to the righthand side. As I study it, I'm not pleased with the tilt of some of the trees on the right -- they seem to be leaning a little to the left and I find that perspective unnerving, which is definitely not what I will want for that side of the composition.