I was talking to a fellow blogger about the perils of reworking a piece. At the time I was reworking two paintings, one of them was this, above. My fellow blogger explained the problems of reworking poems and stories. I felt there was more peril in changing paintings, as it can take a lot of work to correct bad decisions, particularly if you want to get back to where you started. With text, you could keep a copy and quietly lob the revision binward, ressurect the original and pretend nothing had happened ( well, that’s my blinkered view)
I was asked to submit a painting or two to an exhibition and was scraping around for something suitable. I did like the original of the painting above; there was an understated and almost abstract passage in the foreground, but despite a few showings it stayed in my possession. So I thought that I would shake it up ready for another outing.
I was reluctant to change as I was pleased with the original foreground, but having made the change I am equally happy with the outcome. It now looks very similar to the view I saw when I did a watercolour version one sunny summer’s morning, sitting on the hill amid the rough grassland and weeds, a few years ago.
Time will tell.
Other landscapes are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
graham mcquade 
I feel the shadowy foreground looks like part of your path to get to this view. I like it!
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Thanks Pamela. That was exactly my intention. The original foreground was dark, so I worked over each side and then darkened some patches in the middleground to continue the path.
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Oh yes, revising texts is exhausting and painful. But it actually helps that older versions are still tangible. I haven’t had this problem with pictures yet, I’ve never actually revised my UrbanSketching pictures. But with acrylics, suddenly the issue is actually knocking on the door and I don’t know yet how it will feel there.
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Thanks Farbienne. I am trying to sell my paintings and when you cant get rid of something it makes you ponder why it isnt popular. That’s when it’s time to do some modifications.
In extreme situations I gesso over the canvas, maybe add some different tones and then start a new painting. I am doing this at present and will post the result.
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