It's not over till its over!

A few weeks ago I talked about finishing the painting of Albert and the cat pillows. It was signed,  and I was sure I was done with it. Like most of my paintings, I put it in a place to dry that was visible to me every time I walked to my bedroom. I was sure the painting was finished . . . positive in fact. So why did I have to stop and stare at it every time I walked past it, thinking about it as I lay in bed, going over it with a fine tooth comb in my mind. Well the proverbial light bulb finally went off last Monday, about 4 in the morning. I woke from a sound sleep into total awakeness . . . the gray cat!!! Finally an answer to the unease when I looked at the painting! The gray cat pillow stood out like a sore thumb in the painting, even though is was painted with paynes gray, the same color I had used in the other pillows. The difference was I had used titanium white to make the blue gray, the only place I had used it in the whole painting, it was jarring! Looking at it then, it was hard to understand why it took me so long to see the problem. A very large case of tunnel vision! It is easy to get so involved in the process of a painting that we only see the individual parts rather than the whole. I sat down and played with colors until the painting was more cohesive. The gray pillow is now a light tan color, similar to two other pillows in the painting and I added a pattern of red hearts. The color pattern of the painting is now much more pleasing.  It is sitting back in the walk by spot, now when I walk by I can smile and keep on walking by. This painting is now really done!