Obsessing

I've been working long hours on the lizard skull. I feel like I must be obsessing over every scale that is placed on the lizards. I lay down some paint, then step back to see how the new application relates with other parts of the painting. Then I go back and adjust the value as needed. Large parts of the lizard bodies are done. I still need to put highlights and yellow stripes on their legs.

After hours of staring at the painting, when I try to go to sleep later that night, I can actually see after-images of the scales when my eyes are closed. Kind of like a phantom image, not as defined as when I am actually looking at it.

I also got some work done on the chimps last week. The dark tones are in on the chimp to the left. Made some adjustments to the proportions. I'm happy with how the shattered edges of the skull turned out. I used a shattered gourd as a reference to get an idea of how the light would glance off the rough edges.

I suppose the paintings are like children. Today I'm just a little frustrated with them. Tomorrow when I look at them at the beginning of a new day, maybe I'll be happy with them.