No idea what got into me tonight that I had to paint a green ball. And not just any green — no, of all beautiful green colors in the universe I chose a color that I guess you could call ‘bilious green’ (in Dutch we would call it ‘gifgroen’ or poison green)…

Yes, initially I did have an idea what I wanted to paint and I set out to create it, but I didn’t exactly manage to paint what I had in mind and I definitely hadn’t imagined what the effect of this poison green ball would be…

I just didn’t like it. I tried to add some different green shades to the ball, but the poison just kept seeping through… I got frustrated and wanted to throw the whole thing in the bin, but then the thought of having to start my painting all over again didn’t quite appeal to me either. I tried to figure out what I could make of the green ball: a nice green forest, a charming green meadow… but I just got stuck. The green ball and I weren’t exactly best friends.

Then I decided to ditch the green ball completely and cover it with a thick, opaque layer of brick red paint. A color I always like. And yes, this time I liked it too. But the brick red ball didn’t feel quite finished to me yet (at this point I had no idea at all what I was creating, but somehow it didn’t feel finished either). So I decided to apply the sgraffito technique, just to see what would happen. I made long scratches in the (not completely dried) red paint, which revealed some of the underlying layers, including the green.

What on earth — did I now miss the green ball so much that I partly carved it back out again?? Anyway. After the sgraffito the painting actually felt finished to me and in a sense I could make peace with the ball.

And now I must admit that I even slowly start to like the ball… The colors that are peeping through create a kind of playfulness or depth that I didn’t expect at all. And the rough edges of the sgraffito do my rather bumpy painting adventure justice.

Oh well… *sigh*… Maybe the green ball wasn’t that bad after all. 😉

This Is Not A Green Ball, acrylic painting on canvas board.
Size: 24 x 30 cm (9.4 x 11.8 inch).