reworking old painting and the art of transformation

Back in 2014 I created this painting that I called Guardians of souls. It was summer and I was having a phase of everything albinos after a long period of bright and vivid colours. She's a big one, 24 x 30 inches (61 x 70 cm) She was a mix of collage from vintage books, acrylic and pencils and we spent quite a few hours together. Back then cradled wood panel were super heavy I figured it would cost so much to ship it that it would never sell so I hanged her on my bedroom wall where everything hang randomly  depending on what sells or not. I loved her for a while and as my skills were getting better I started noticing things… the eyes were too big the nose too long but still she's stayed there because I still loved her innocence and softness and I needed that at the time. 

But as the year when by my style and life evolved as it always does, constant movement and about 2 weeks ago I wanted to start painting with acrylic again, I was sitting on the couch pondering what would be the perfect project to do so as you see I realized that I hadn't used acrylic since I finished painting for Ladybird and that was almost 2 years ago! Life gets so busy, I haven't stopped creating but I was busy elsewhere. Acrylic takes time, it's one of my first love but I keep neglecting it to watercolour. Anyway all that to say that I looked at this girl hanging as a headboard and figured out it was time to upgrade her

At first, I simply wanted to fix her features but keep her essence so I applied a coat of clear gesso, let it cured and when to work. Working on top of old painting offers its challenges, you can't help but be influence by what's underneath. After a long night painting until the early morning, she had a new face and I when to bed liking her but something was nagging at me. 
When I woke up later that morning eager to paint again I looked at her again and I knew I had to start over. To help me figure out what was bugging me so much I took a picture of her and superpose a couple of reference pictures with the same pose on top of her and bang I could see that the eyes were too high and at a slightly wrong angle. So I went to work again and gave her not only a second but a third face over. Covering the eyes section with white gesso made it easier to start fresh and finally get her where I wanted it to.

After I finally figured out her face, my next challenge was the background. At first, she has a gold halo to replace the drip from before. 
Drips were quite a thing in 2014 but it just didn't work with her face anymore… somehow her hair also changed a few time, I started to add flowers and loved the contrast with the darker muted grey background.

It's hard to know when to stop so at one point I took her in photoshop again to scribble more flowers and see if I should make her pupils bigger. I decided against that even if I think her eyes are a bit awkward, they just work for her.

At some point, I wanted to add flowers outline in gold leaf but couldn't find my stash so that idea was tossed away. 

Overall I love this painting while I'm not quite sure what possessed me to go in that direction. I didn't rework the skunk as I already love him but one thing I notice after it all now that her face is more realistic than the first version is that somehow it seems like she's holding him to high, the proportion is a bit off. It would be interesting in a while to create a new version of this starting afresh and see where it takes me but for now, I got work to do. She was a welcome and much-needed distraction to help me get focus again and get the creative juice flow through my veins once more. 

Have you ever try reworking an old piece? I highly recommend it just so you realized how much you evolved since you finished it.

Until next time! (I'm really trying to be more regular at this blog thing)
​Karine

Now that she is hanging on my wall again next to another painting I did in the same period I can't help but to think she will be my next rework.