I don't like the new piece so I'm going to try again

 I started on the oils a few days ago. I decided I needed to take the plunge and just start. There was no real harm in doing so. After all, everything is temporary, even oil paint. I started on one of the octopuses on the canvas. I have never really painted realistic octopuses. I enjoy playing with color and often my octopus renderings show them with colors that don't really come naturally to them in the wild. Often, they are a sandy color, pink, maybe a very desaturated violet, or even a red orange. I have rendered them in shades of blue or green. While we could argue that the blue ringed octopus exists, I would argue that those are blue spots, not an entirely blue animal. 

In my previous renderings, the watercolor or acrylic ink that I use to add color to the pieces is saturated, but it feels light. It feels painterly and adds a level of movement and is ultimately a canvas for added detail over the top done usually in some other medium. Often Posca pens, but I have also utilized ballpoint pen, gel pen, Stuart Semple's Diamond Dust, or a homemade paint using his Lit powder pigment. I have every intention of doing something similar with the newest piece, but the oil, as I have reminded myself again, isn't watercolor or ink. It is unique in both texture and application method. I prefer oil to acrylic for those reasons as well. I enjoy the sensation of painting with oil, it's smooth and, to me, the application feels rich and smooth. The colors interact well with little effort from me and the whole experience feels far more elegant. However, it is also structured. Where gouache often inspires me to paint more impressionistically, watercolor and ink both inspire freedom and a more illustrative style, oil inspires structure and implementation of formulaic techniques. I believe this piece could be a good way to divert and explore a new angle for the octopus paintings. Perhaps more of a juxtaposition of the formulas and the freedom. I'm not positive how I will do that yet, but I know that I do not like the color. I know that at this moment, the way the color looks on my canvas is bothersome and is consuming my thoughts about the piece. So, I'll move on to a new section. I'll do my best to clean the old and come up with something new.