Back to the Drawing Board.

I've started the painting over again. Something wasn't quite clicking with me to begin with, on it, and as work progressed, I encountered a technical snafu....

I layered on a dark blue base over the pearlescent base,  but after attempting a second coat the whole thing started wrinkling and crackling. Fine if you want a distressed look, but not for this. Instead of creating a bigger mess, I just got another canvas and started over, this time paying attention to things that were still nagging me after I started painting. THIS time.... I sketched out everything in charcoal, rethinking some areas..... The foreground street is higher and less pronounced, so now we're looking at the drive-in from across the street, as if we have stepped back about 20 feet. The distant elements are pretty much the same in size and relationships, but now there is a telephone pole and an old phone booth in the foreground. At the far right is the ticket office and the driveway leading up to it. My intention is to still have everything shrouded in darkness, the fence surrounding the drive-in full of missing panels and holes, and to still have lights on the distant horizon.

AND, to have a movie mysteriously flickering on the old, weathered screen.

Before the paint started delaminating, here is what I had, and I wasn't feeling it, even if it was at an early stage:

Starting over, everything was laid out without any questioning or "winging it" this time. Now I feel like I am on the right track. Everything here is in charcoal, and set with a brushing over of glear gesso so it doesn't smear or get erased. The painting is going to be so dark that these marks will not be an issue.