Learning from our mistakes

After a few successful days with Indian yellow and anthraquinone blue, I thought it would be fun to return to teal, but maybe try a stronger yellow.

I had also discovered the paintings seem to work better if the yellow goes in first, so I mixed diarylide yellow with a little orange, then scribbled in the teal and some darker blues.

Sadly, I find that yellow is just too strong -- maybe not for some, but definitely for me. So now the task will be to find a way to calm it down -- which may mean painting over the whole thing. I'm hoping not; there are aspects I do like. It's just not making me as happy as yesterday's experiments.

... which is the useful thing, right? Like Edison, I need to celebrate each mistake as an "Oh, good, now I know not to do THAT again," as something bringing me closer to what I DO want.

Wouldn't it be lovely (I was asking my husband last night) if our president -- and our country -- could do the same: to just admit, well, THAT didn't work, and now I know not to do THAT again -- instead of continually finding ways to justify bad behavior?

We need to move on, folks. We need to realize we're all connected, and all connected, not just to other humans and other countries, but to our environments as well. So much better to acknowledge our mistakes and try to do better next time...