Landscape Artists International: Jimmy Longacre_subjective realist landscape paintings

"MULLIGANS": I've been told not to do it. Don't re-work a painting. Let it be. I've been told you can't improve them. Huh? I've been told, it isn't "plein air". So,…what? Sorry, I can't resist. Sometimes, after I've "finished" a painting, I start seeing things I'd like to do to it. I want to simplify something, tune-up the color, emphasize the focal area, or any number of things that I recognize as making it a better painting, and learning something. Sure, I could paint it again on another day, and I've done plenty of that. But, that's different. That's another painting. That one will have it's own needs. I'm talking about when a particular painting is working for me on a number of levels, but I'd like to see some changes. Why not!? They're my paintings, and I make the rules.

This one was re-cropped from its original 11x14 down to 9x12. In my mind, composition was improved immediately. It originally was done in a cool color scheme, and it wasn't "bad", but it seemed a bit lifeless. I decided to warm it up and control the color relationships for more atmosphere, contrast, and a different feel.

Here's the original. Some of you may be saying, "Ooh…too bad. You lost it." Well, I had a lot of fun re-doing it. I learned some things, and …I prefer the new result to the original. My point is, it's not a contest. It's about trying anything that I think will make a painting better. Sometimes, a mulligan is just what's needed to get back on track.