All Things Fine Art

"Thin Ice", 24 x 24", oil on canvas, $1700

One January morning, a year ago, I was out walking and stopped on the foot bridge overlooking the Red Cedar River in my hometown of Williamston, Michigan. As I gazed down I was taken by the number of small animal tracks crossing back and forth across the ice-filled river. Later at home I began creating some small sketches of the scene with the tracks as the feature. Pleased with what I came up with I began the painting. Something about the painting bothered me and I finally stopped painting and placed it on my drying shelf where it sat for a number of months untouched.  

One day, I felt the urge to work on the painting again and, had over time, decided to add a bit of melt water along the edge of the bank for interest.  I love water and, one thing leading to another, the slip of melt water grew and slowly began taking over as the main feature, with the tracks as a poor second character. Eventually, the tracks disappeared and the ice and water became my focus. 

Generally, it is a bad idea to change the original thought  of a painting. Usually, doing so, spells disaster. It's best to stay with an original thought and do a second painting with the new idea. Once in a while though, going off in another direction pays off. I feel it was a successful venture in "Thin Ice". 

I hope you enjoy this painting as much as I did painting it. There were times when I felt the painting would never work. But, through perseverance it ended up looking just right. I lucked out this time.