Hats and Bags

Hats and Bags

(acrylic on board, 30 x 30 cm)

I was surprised at how long this took to finish. There was a lot of balancing of tones, colours and implied textures to get right and the background needed adjusting several times to make the hats sit properly in relation to the wall. 

But it's finished now and ready to frame. I think it makes a nice pair with the Jelly Shoes painting, but will also hang quite well with the smaller Caps and Bags.

 Jelly Shoes

(acrylic on board, 12 x 12 in)

Caps and Bags

(acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 cm)

When I put the final touches to Hats and Bags, I felt a bit deflated because I realised I'd probably come to the end of this thread. There are more hats I could paint, but for now I think I'm done with them. I have a similar idea to explore which may result in one or two related works, but we'll have to see how that progresses. 

"What to do next?" is often a problem when you've done no work on the side to draw out lurking thoughts. The thing to do, though, is ensure you don't let a time of contemplation become a long fallow period. I find it becomes so much more difficult to start work again then.