The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present “Love Heals,” an exhibition of paintings by Holton Rower. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger Gallery, located at 432 Julia Street, from August 4 – September 15, 2012. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist in attendance, Saturday, August 4 from 6-9 pm in conjunction with “White Linen Night.”

Sometimes I start a painting and it just "clicks". The paint goes exactly where I want and the color is right on. But sometimes it doesn't...and I just have to start over and try again. 1st try - Original painting 2nd try - new painting revisiting original idea. That's what happened with my latest painting. I could clearly visualize the piece in my head but when I started painting, it just didn't work out. The colors didn't give that mossy misty forest that I was looking for, and my tree bark was too linear and lifeless. I thought I could save it by lighting but once I started that part I knew it wasn't going to work. So I ditched it before I spent anymore time on it. The Wayfarers, 6 x 6 inches, Gouache & Ink on paper, © Nicole Gustafsson 2012 Here's the new and improved version that I am much happier with. The color and lighting adjusted to give that mossy forest feel, and the tree bark texture looser and rougher. The Wayfarers (detail), © Nicole Gustafsson 2012 I used to get pretty bummed when something didn't turn out right or I wasn't "feeling it". Now I just set it aside and wait a little bit and try again on a new piece of paper. (Getting a new piece of paper helps wipe the slate clean. When I used thicker paper I would just turn it over. Try to "cover up" the existing painting doesn't work to well). Sometimes when I post in-progress shots in real time on my facebook page people sometimes remark remark "gosh that was fast" but what they don't know is that there was a whole other painting before it that I had the feeling just wasn't going right! Stay tuned next week for my blog tutorial on techniques and materials!