Tina Czaja

18x30 oil on canvas
"Carroll Road, TC"

12x12 oil on hardboard
"Across the Road I"

12x12 oil on hardboard
"Across the Road"

Day 1-2  Today was the first day, for me, of painting in the elements in two years.  I had been looking forward to this day for quite awhile.  I decided to work on a large vertical canvas, which I had never done with a landscape before and I was a little intimidated.   My biggest challenges involved the middle and foreground. I really had a hard time creating the middle ground greens. I worked and reworked and reworked it again.  I also struggled as to how I would resolve the statement of grasses in the front.  The next day was the same location and I started on the two sections of turmoil.  I had brought along two small square boards that I had gelled maps to.  While I had all the paint mixed and was struggling to solve the unresolved in my large vertical nemesis, I turned and and painted the view across the road on my square boards.  These two small square boards were the highlight of my day. The little paintings helped me to loosen up, breath and look at my painting with fresh eyes. The unresolved was resolved and all was right in the universe.