Changing the Course of the River

Thanks Betty Jo Tatum for nominating me to take part in a blog challenge. Betty Jo shares her artistic process here. The rules are:

1) Thank the person who nominated you.
2) Post a quote each day for three days.
3) Each day nominate three new bloggers to take part.

My quote for the day is:

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

I nominate, Nancy Rehak whose blog Dizzy Dog Quilting, is always interesting! 
Since I blog but once a week, I have changed the rules for myself a bit and I'll post for the next two weeks.

Now. . .on to the news of the week!!!
I've been stuck trying to figure out why this design wasn't working for me.

I tried moving the river to a horizontal position. I tried making it shorter. I tried ending it behind the "hotel".  I took off the sky, I lowered the sky. Nothing clicked.

Then, my dear daughter came for a visit and I asked her what was wrong with the river. She turned it at a diagonal. That change felt "right." How did I miss that option???!!!!

Next, my other dear daughter sent me a photo of her and a friend in front of a waterfall. . .it was synchronicity at work! I was thinking how I could incorporate it into this piece. As you know, I started with the "hotel" and a waterfall idea.



First, I had to work on changing the water. I thought about starting over. . .no, I like the graduation of pieces and color. I thought about cutting it. . .no, I'd cut it and then wish I had cut it in a different place. I decided to take tucks in it to change the shape. 

This is what it looked like:

I thought I was on track until I pinned it on the wall. The water lost its movement or personality so, I was back to square one!

I ended up removing some of the tucks and it fit more like I had imagined it in my head!




Here is the water, with the beginning of the bridge and a start of the waterfall. I'm making progress; just not at the rate I had envisioned!

After looking at it for most of the week, I'm thinking the bridge is too big, the waterfall doesn't fit and the river needs to be wider near the hotel so it is back to the drawing board!