Every once in a while, a painting surprises me. 
Evening Song was a pleasant 20×20 oil painting, but something didn’t feel quite right. The sky, however, still had a quality I loved.
I could envision something better.
So I did something a little drastic. I took out a knife and cut it apart!
When one painting becomes three, you start seeing possibilities that weren’t there before…
Surprisingly, I separated the original painting into three smaller works, including The Fair Maiden and The Gallant, each with its own hummingbird.
Happily, the salvaged landscape section looked better with less sky. It became a more intimate 6×12-inch piece, which sold right away!
Those 8×8 square sky pieces eventually became The Fair Maiden and The Gallant, each with its own hummingbird.
It made me happy to see that the texture, color, and history of the original landscape painting are still underneath. Nothing was really wasted. It just changed direction.
And now, both hummingbird paintings are on display in the Wild Women Paint the West exhibition at the Thunderbird Foundation.
Sometimes the answer isn’t to keep fixing a painting.
Sometimes you just need to cut it up. 😊
