ABOVE: yesterdays version is on the left, todays on the right.

1:31PM: yesterday, as promised, i took motion 20 back to our house & hung it on the east wall, where it can be viewed clearly up to 60 feet away. it did NOT pass the test, which was obvious to both of us right away.

the problem was, i was trying to hard to do something that would be in harmony with the aesthetic of the gallery i'm in conversation with in denver, which i'm very interested in.

so today i brought it back to the studio & dove in with a fresh energy, and with the attitude that my job is to make an excellent painting & forget as much as possible why i happen to be making this one. there are time constraints as well, since our next trip to denver and to the gallery will take place in just a few weeks.

i worked, as usual, as long as my energy lasted, and i was in that space where the hand & body move where they need to & the mind follows. if you examine the comparative shots from yesterday, i think you'll agree the composition is stronger, more coherent, with a far better flow from the top to the bottom of the canvas, and just the right number of tonal & coloristic accents to make it pop.

author tony schwartz, co-author of trump's art of the deal, says we need to ask:

what am i not seeing? and

what else might be true?

we saw him in an interview yesterday & were taken by his unexpected acuity & wisdom.

i'm going to give these questions some thought & perhaps return later with a few answers.

BELOW: details of motion 20 as it looked moments ago