Finishing a painting might seem like a simple think to do when one thinks about it. But when one tries to do it in reality, there are many, many turns that are often taken, which result in a seemingly never ending journey. As an artist, I know this all too well. There have been three paintings that I have finished so far this year. It´s not a lot, even given their sizes. The last one, as you maybe know, was „Night swimmers“. I have been, again, busy with my studies again, but I finished them at the end of May and I am proud to say that now I have a bachelor´s degree in applied ecology.

The thing that I think the most about when it comes to finishing a painting is the colors. It can be very difficult to get the colors to look „just right“, as the lighting conditions in which I paint may change a lot. I have found out that I generally always need to add a bit more glow, a bit more contrast and also a bit more lightness than what I think I should. So this has become my rule of thumb. When a painting doesn´t have the right colors and contrast, it can really diminish it´s appeal and charm. I often spend a lot of time just looking at a painting in it´s final stages and not even painting, just evaluating. I often make a lot of subtle alterations. To a person looking at the painting from the outside, it may seem that the brushstrokes are laid down simply and effortlessly. However, in actuality, there is a lot of effort put into fine tuning it into the final version. I am not putting pictures of that in here, because my camera usually cannot pick up on such subtle differences.

The other thing that I tend to fix and think about a lot is composition. With this one, the work is not tied to only the final stages. I figure things out throughout the whole process, however, I try to get most of it right as soon as possible. Composition basically means where the different elements of a painting are placed and their sizes. I think about this a lot too. For example, there was supposed to be a male figure in my painting „Night swimmers“ at first, but then I figured out it made the composition a little bit too excessive. Here´s a picture.

I also wanted to share pictures that I have taken in the recent months as I love taking pictures. They were all taken around the area where I live. We were blessed with so much sunny weather. The beginning of summer is my favorite time of the year. The sun is the strongest, the abundance of greenery is the biggest and the temperatures are easy on me. Life is in full force. I made a journal post inspired by this thought that I will share with you. What is the season of your soul? You can share it in the comments.

Also, my current wish is to get out to nature on a holiday, to explore a place far away from home. It´s been a long time since I visited any place like that. These are some pictures of the forest which is in it´s full greenery now.

Recently, I enjoy taking pictures of the sun and it´s beams through the trees. It gives me a somehow spacey vibe.

These two photos were from my evening bike ride.

Look up to the sky!

In our forest, I think for the first time I saw yellow foxgloves. Such a magical looking flower. I have actually only ever seen magenta colored ones. But not this mellow yellow. People on social media are also saying that there are unusually lots of foxgloves all around.

Then I took this picture where I am getting some negative ions from the ground at the top of a hill.

This is a picture of our river, the river Nitra. I have used this image as a reference photo for my latest painting too.

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