From the wilds of Connemara to still life paintings...

I worked on the Connemara painting in the studio today. I have repainted the sky and I'm fairly happy with it now, I still think I need to put a warmer glaze on my mountains in the background though as they are just a little too far back. Apart from that I did some work on my diptych and then stopped due to a run of visitors...both bored and Interested ones.
The weather was bright and sunny today, but the temperatures have fallen. I need the heater on in the studio now. Soon the paint will be slow to dry too. It is near the time to start painting still-lifes again. I might do a series of small paintings so I can keep working on a number at a time allowing them time to dry. At least if I do a number of small still-lifes I can sell them a little cheaper and hopefully I may be able to earn a few bob from them in an area where my works can be sold a little cheaper. Still-life paintings are similar to studies in that I am painting what is in front of me much more realistically and I don't tend to drift abstract so much when painting either them or portraits. I cannot go down the 'painting a day' route...it takes me too long to paint one...lol. but I will try to do one or two a week in a smaller size over the winter. I have been invited over to Serbia next November, and I am hoping to go to Tunisia in September, all of which costs money, so I really need to try to get a head start on earning some...I will have to try to organise some exhibitions somewhere also. I have started working well again, I need to start selling a few too...
I bought a few more acrylics and acrylic mediums on Thursday, so I'll do a little experimenting with them over the next couple of weeks, with the idea of doing a series of more stylised/abstract works for something a little different. I prefer my more abstracted landscape paintings to those that are more realistic..they are more defined in a way, they are certainly more me. I don't want to become an 'Abstract' painter, I am a 'Painterly' artist, and wish to be seen as a painter, as much as an artist, and for this you really need to produce recognizable landscapes and still-lifes, concentrating on the brushwork and 'marks' as much as the actual painting. I believe this is an important part of my work and I am afraid of losing it if I go too abstract- or it might be that I am still afraid of the idea that many "abstracts" are just interior designs rather than art and do not represent anything other than eye-candy colour splashes which I feel gives abstract a bad name as an artform.

All that said I am still in a state of flux with my work. I am not the same as I was before the start of my health problems (pre 2000) and certainly not since 2004 after my second episode. I need to break away from my old comfort zones and start developing new ideas, my Tunisian experience has helped with this also, helping with new ideas and opinions. My work may need to loosen up a little to create more 'feeling' again. The recent works, those from Tunisia, worked well, these in the main were painted more loosely. This is another reason I want to try some small quick still-life paintings and acrylic experiments. I can do these without huge material costs, and if I am not happy with the results I can scrap them.