I Know, I Know / Q&Q Cut-Up #10

I tried and tried to find a background color that would offer pop and liveliness as the 'grout,' so to speak, behind half-inch canvas tiles I had cut from quick & quixotic cut-up #10.

The top and bottom portions (sky, water) of cut-up #10 worked fine together when they were juxtaposed in the context of a single painting, but they became lackluster—at best—as tiles.

What worked as contrast or complement behind the sky tiles did not work at all behind the water tiles, and vice versa. If you've been following along for the past few days, you've seen.

I know, I know. Why did I even cut a 4x5" work-in-progress into dozens of dramatically smaller half-inch squares to begin with? 

I don't have an answer.

However, as aggravating as the self-created challenge has proved to be (and stay tuned … I may yet toss the remaining tiles in the trash), I sure have learned a bunch empirically. Plus, I now have at hand three sheets of awesome collage paper that were way fun to paint—a decent net gain in yardage, to call up my football imagery again.

Eventually I sidestepped my search for a color contrast, glued sixteen tiles on an essentially white background instead, scribbled some monochromatic watercolor pencil on the page, and then flung monochromatic latex house paint from a small applicator. 

The play suddenly came together! Touchdown!

I added a few teeny little hints of oil pastel.

Scored the extra point.

Now I'm dancing a happy dance in the end zone.

[Only 66 more tiles left!]

The Patter of Rain on Windowpanes
4x5"; acrylic, latex, and oil pastel, and canvas-tile collage on paper,
mounted on heavy card stock
abstract
2017
[gift]