While I always told my students to simply do their best, and not waste time comparing their efforts to the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Times), sometimes we should look to the goats for inspiration. History has it that Leonardo da Vinci tried to bring innovations, new ideas, to every project. Sometimes with mixed results when he would abandon "bad ideas" midstream. Which may explain why we have fewer than 20 paintings attributed to the brush of the master.
For example, da Vinci received a commission for a mural commemorating The Battle of Anghiari, to glorify Florentine forces’ victory over Milanese troops in a 1440 battle. Well, one story is that Leonardo left the mural half-finished when he unsuccessfully tried to combine oil paint with the fresco technique and the whole thing sort of slumped down the wall like a child's finger painting with too much water. Well, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Which is an extended explanation of the new process I am exploring with the cranes image I showed you in the last post. My normal process is to do the complete black and white "cartoon" of the entire image and then add color, sometimes putting in a single color, red or yellow, whatever; everywhere it goes in the whole image.
I am trying a new style with cranes. I am going to treat each crane as a separate composition, with it's own internal design and painting. This is the first one. That leaves only five more to go. I doubt I'll share each one before completing the final version. Travel etc., will most likely disrupt the process, but hopefully I'll avoid Da Vinci's problem.
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