Lately I have been a victim of hummingbird mind. I have many ideas for paintings in my head, and I flit from one to another like a hummingbird. I've had three commissions in the last couple of months. All were from small, bad photos. Portraits of people I have never met. Those are really so hard. I did an okay job on them. The likesness was good. I don't think the likeness can ever be great when you haven't spent any time with the person. I get a feel for who they are through the photo, but its pretty weak. The whole process was work, and not all that enjoyable. I was thrilled to get it. And thrilled that I'm finally making some money. But it seems to have undermined my creativity. I've started a couple a new paintings, but I can't seem to get a clear vision of where I'm going. And it's not good enough anymore to just copy what's in the photo. I want to put more of myself into it. But I'm not sure my skills are up to it yet. I started a landscape, a canoe backlit by morning light on a lake. The photo is all greys, very little color. But in my vision of it I see a beautiful sunrise reflecting in the lake. The composition is very nice, the values strong, so it seemed a perfect candidate to experiment with color from my own vision. I see other paintings that I love. They are usually done in clear pure colors, realistic but simplified. No mud. I work in watercolors these days so mud is an issue. When I look at a subject there is always a lot of grey and brown. And yet I see paintings where these colors have been translated into beautiful pure color. As I'm trying with this landscape though the colors just aren't working. There are too many, or they don't harmonize. And my darks always get a matte dull look to them. Well. I need to get back to the studio and keep trying.