St. Paul, 36 x 18 inches, oil on linen

This is the fourth iteration of this painting, and I'm finally satisfied. The first was a 12 x 24, and I thought, "damn this is hard. what have I gotten myself into?" But I got it done, and felt pretty good about it so I decided to do a bigger one, an 36 x 18. You might remember that one had an accident. I dropped a panel on it and the sharp corner of it went right through the canvas.

I have since repaired it according to Perry's suggestion, and it's now perfectly good. So why paint another one? I wanted to see it in a different, more muted color scheme. The older one had a lot more violets in the atmosphere and the background, and this one... well... doesn't. The result is a moodier, quieter painting. I have also simplified the clutter and my brushwork is more economical.

The composition is the same as before, so this painting is just as complex. But having done it a few times made this one a lot more of an enjoyable ride. The greatest difference is that in the first piece, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Whether I could pull it off as a painting–as opposed to just rendering realistically– was a big question mark. In this last effort, I already knew it was going to turn out alright. I mean, I'd already answered that question so consequently, my brush had more confidence and even attitude in laying down the individual notes.

It's being framed right now - I think it's going to look really good. I can't wait to see it!