With a thread of similarity?

12" x 9"
Oil on canvas board

Something else I haven't finished

Pastel on  Bee paper

Progress/wider detail

Day ten (+/-)
Still @ work

Detail of new work in progress

DETAIL/oil on canvas
24" x 30"
Apple Trees

Passages

I spent some time yesterday looking at sections of some pictures that I thought, on the whole, were successful.  Some recently completed, others older.  I hoped to see if I could find a thread of similarity in any of the pieces, anything that seemed to reach a destination, a resolution that would represent my best efforts in my search for artistic resolution, if you will.  I also hoped that maybe I'd find a guidepost or two!
Here are some examples of what I found:

Some of these were done entirely with brushes; others with knife and brush.  Most of the canvases were at least 36" on one side.
Time for some additional study!

Now in progress

Detail/oil on canvas

I've been working on this for several days.....sort of an impressionist view of an apple orchard in  Spring.  Very challenging!

Time to set this aside for a bit

I'm thinking this might be done...for the time being.
I've learned a lot while working with this and see within it a number of paths to explore.

The work continues

Something is going to flow from this......

Two pieces in progress

30" x 24"
Oil on canvas
2015

48" x 24"
Oil on canvas
2013-2015

Almost balanced

When I'm working on a piece I often feel that I have to resist an internal drive to make "details" appear.  At this stage in this work I'm slowing down and looking lots more; finding, I hope, where the exclamation marks and other punctuation points are being revealed.  Really fun!

Moving ahead...I think

Detail/untitled

Well, I think I'm moving ahead with this, pushing as spontaneously as I  can and trying not to expand the color pallet any further that it already is.   I've tried to break lines and make something from gestures and squiggles and any depth that may be revealed is the result of quick decisions about tone or color with a mark placed as fast as I can move my arm and hand.  Maybe not actually as fast as I can but fast, very little thought lingering as I move along.
One thing is certain: this has been a fun experience  and I've got some ideas about how maybe how I can make paint marks in a similar fashion.
These two pictures have been manipulated in Picasa but the colors are very true to the actual piece.