Front End Alignment

"Last of the Roses" 8"x6" Oil

I was trying to keep things very simple in this study, just how little detail is needed for us to complete the picture? I think this is something artist's struggle with everyday, the term, to paint "loose" is used quite often in the art world. As young painters we see every detail and want to put it all down on the canvas. I think there is a poetry about the impression of a painting, leave the viewer to complete the picture, if it's all about the detail and the facts, it's sort of like reading the newspaper, all the info is there and nothing is left to the imagination, by the way, the paper is only around for a day. Now poetry on the other hand is read over and over again allowing the reader to feel emotion and bring their own interpretation to the piece. There is a reason the Impressionist movement is the most popular of all. So I will try to continue to keep my strokes to a minimum, sounds easy doesn't it?
I am posting something I painted a couple of weeks ago because I had eye surgery last week, my husband calls it a front end alignment, actually the Doctor corrected a lazy eye that was causing headaches for some time now. It involved cutting the muscles on each side of the eye and aligning the eye properly. I was so sick from the anesthesia and pain medication, ugh, I was in bed for 3 days. I am a big wimp I guess. It's been 10 days since the surgery and it is healing quite slowly so I have just been piddling around in the studio. It hasn't been this neat in ages. We are leaving for New York in a couple of days to visit my family, the boys are excited as am I.