Blue Bather Completed

"Blue Bather" took on a softer look in the completed collage than the sketch in the face. I toned back some of the shadows to give her a more inviting and less detailed look. I decided to do this in progress, I was going to come back and further establish the shadows around the nose and the mouth. After working on it until midnight, I decided to rest and come back in the morning with a fresh perspective. I find this works wonders, I have a whole new take on it the next day.  In the morning, when I came out to the studio to get a look at her with all the glue dried and clear (sometimes when I overwork an area, the glue gets a cloudy haze and obscures the true look of what is underneath, all you can do is leave it for a while and let it dry, to get a clear view) and I decided that I loved her just the way she was! I remembered that good advice for all artists is to "know when the work is completed, know when to quit!" Overworking can take a great collage and turn it into something that is not what I set out to do... too much detail can be a bad thing.