I took “Comin'” to my critique group on June 17th.

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When you go to a critique group, it’s important to keep your ears open and your mouth shut. I don’t think I did a good job at either this time. A few things I just wasn’t going to do, but what I heard was that the piece needed some serious work.

1. The white bars weren’t working

2. There is not enough interplay between the horse and background (add some green to the horse)

3. The “rider” area was not working.

4. The mane wasn’t reading as such.

5. The left shoulder of the horse (shoulder on the right side of the painting) was too big

6. The nose was too skinny

With those points in mind, I came home with a a decision to make: Go big or go home.

Here’s my decision.

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Of course, when I took a step back, more things appeared.

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I still am seeing a few more things, but time is getting short. I figure that I have to pack up and ship on Thursday. So one more painting night, and for better or worse, this year’s entries are going up.