Getting Messy

I have just recently completed my first painting since my second year, maybe third, at ECU.  It was an adventure to say the least!  I'm so used to my clean paper medium that diving into painting again seemed like a mild catastrophe waiting to happen. But I made it through, the kitchen floor definitely has some yellow paint still stuck on it oops! I apologize in advance for the quality of some of the photos, I had to use my phone and of course inspiration hits at night :) 
Anyway, here is my journey with the piece I have named "Blossoms" (a little at odds with the current season, but when inspiration hits, you just have to go with it).

To begin with, the three wood panels I was working with were about two feet by three feet.  My inspiration came from a bad day at work and thinking about summer, plus someone I know who really wanted a painting.  So I just jumped right into it and started with a neutral background, I only used three colours- but managed to go through five tubes of paint!

My general idea was to do a large up close view of a cherry blossom branch, so i grabbed a chunk of white chalk to "pencil" in where I wanted stuff to be.  Then I casually painted in the branch, just to see how I was liking it.

 

Then came the time to paint the blossoms.  It was a disaster.  I really hated what I had created, so I threw paint on what I had done.  I kept doing that, then I started to like it again, working with my disaster to create the final piece.  I went from really excited about starting my piece, to really liking it, to hating everything about it, to having a miniscule meltdown, to being okay with it, to absolutely loving it! Typical creative process you could say hehehe!