Treading Deep Water

This is what deep water troubles look like in paint.

Here is the start of a larger version of "Rolling Twilight". The drawing stage seemed promising....

Sometimes it takes lots of oil paint on a bigger painting. Thus the similarity to deep water. Maintaining the edges, the nuances in value and color, the vitality of the sky where it meets the trees made me feel like treading deep water with the chance of going under at any moment. Why we should be timid about learning a new step is a puzzle. I suppose it's the exhiliration of reaching the shore - or the place where firm paint looks like what I intended. At this stage I'm thinking it looks dreadful. All that splashy color is misleading. Stay tuned - does the swimmer make it to the shore? about 15x30, oil on canvas