heart of greyness

The working title for this painting is 'heart' but its looking like something out of the bayou in this incarnation. Perhaps my preoccupation with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is creeping into my art, or should I say 'oozing'? I would like my art to be about the issues of the day but I also don't want something dreary hanging on my walls. How do other artists reconcile that problem?

I'm still learning about my materials. Other artists that I know seem to be very knowledgeable about their craft and I certainly aspire to that ideal myself. I also enjoy futsing about and seeing what new, weird, and wonderful things I can create next. The painting on the right is the underpainting. On the left, I added a grey I created. When I put some of the grey on the blue shape, I discovered that ultra marine blue deep dries over night unlike cadmium red or white. Also, the grey I mixed is a lot more reflective that the other colors I have used. With water-soluable oils, if you get any water in it, you have to wait until it dries to get the true color. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this