"The Yellow Wall #2"

YELLOW WALL #2

Nancy Herman

20" x 16"

Oil on stretched canvas

YELLOW WALL #1

oil on canvas board

6" x 8"

Last year about this time I painted Yellow Wall #1.  I really enjoyed painting it, and had in mind making a larger version someday.  This year since I will be showing paintings done along the Cynwyd Trail in January and this was painted from the trail looking into Manyunk, I thought it would be a good time to make a larger painting.  I decided to change the scale and really go for the yellow wall.  Since I sold the first painting, I painted this one from  the image of it on my ipad.  

I didn't enjoy painting this one nearly as much as I did the first one.  I have never painted from a painting before and I found the experience rather odd.  I still enjoyed looking at the first painting and at times was amazed at how nicely I had solved some of its little challenges, but this time perhaps because of the scale changes and the color changes I was at sea most of the time.  Knowing approximately what the whole work would look like in the end took some of the joy out of working and I don't think I will repeat this kind of exercise again.

In spite of that the new painting has an integrity of its own, I think, but for me at least an entirely different spirit.  It is much more lively and fun loving (belying its makers feelings) while the first painting has that mellow look of late day that I love so much.

What do you think?