Here is a photo

of a painting I recently completed in the graduate studio. My advisor is encouraging me to rework a few large pieces I started last Spring and Summer and I must say, the results are encouraging. Here is an image of the piece previously, if you don't remember...
I actually cropped the painting using the table saw to cut the bottom 10 inches off both panels. I then worked to organize the space into larger movements of dark and light values. This idea is giving me a flexible framework with which to make paintings. There is a greater freedom to make choices when operating with simple guidelines.

Untitled (as of yet) 48 x 36" diptych

Here is what I worked on through the end of May and early June. I finally really sanded down Darwin's finches sending buttons and beads flying from under the undulating power sander. It was sort of gleeful. I laid down a good medium toned gesso and am developing good contrast in this piece right from the start. The starlings were chosen for their notorious ubiquity returning to an idea that I like found in Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - the darker side of fecundity.