Working on this watercolor study (see February 10) I started to play with shapes for the rock pile in the foreground, and came upon the solution shown here. The tilt has some of the energy I remember from Colorado boulder fields – or even some of the deposits in Central Park. Shadowing the front part with dappled shade makes it less prominent, more pointing towards the center. Then if I tip the rock behind Dionysos a little, there is more of a channel of movement flowing up from the ground. And there will be an opportunity to make those tree branches in the upper right raised in a gesture that is seen against the sky like the upraised arms of the dancers.
This begins to feel like a solution to the problems described in the previous post. I’ll wait a while for comments and then start to carry this design through in the oil painting.
Painting Dionysos 