I suppose we artists (ok am using the word loosely here!!!) can be a sensitive lot and needy for affirmation and praise which is why we choose to post our work and I suppose one reason why I write my blog..... there are other reasons for the blog but one of them is to put my work into the public domain for people either to love, like, hate, reject... whatever is their opinion of what they see.
So taking into account that reason, I noticed that I haven't posted much in August (ok I was quite busy at the beginning of the month with the party)... but why you may ask??? Not because I'm giving up on my blog, but simply because even though I have been painting plenty, I haven't had much to post. I did three paintings last week and two I was delighted with but a lot ended up in the bin and having painted most of the day today, two goes at a cockerel, one attempt at a dog and finishing off a Venetian mask which I am very undecided about, have nothing more to show than 3 unfinished well below average attempts, so after my euphoria of last week, Rolo and the rose where I really felt I had really made progress am now back to somewhere different and struggling a bit!!!
So that is the question, do you have times when things just seem to turn out and you seem to be on a roll and then you seem to slip back or is it because sometimes you just hit on a subject which you can somehow manage to paint standing on your head and then you don't connect with a subject again for a while? Am not clear what my problem is but it has happened to me before when I do something I really like then takes me another age to reach those heights again!!! I suppose I should take heart from the fact that every so often I pop one out that I am thrilled with and maybe the rest of the time I am using my painting time to work up to the next one!!!
I do know that pro artists have their howlers too and I guess that they are better at rescuing their bin work than I am though I must admit I am getting better at doing that as well and don't leave half as many pieces unfinished as I used to, but sometimes things just seem to go right......... then reality comes along, knocks you on your painting beret and says "Ahaa you were getting a bit cocky and over confident then... a bit too big for your boots, time to bring you down a peg or two and let you see just exactly where you're at!!!
The paintings at the top are a couple of "breakthrough" pieces which I really felt worked at the time. I was earlier in my journey to loosen up when I did these but remember being very pleased with how they turned out.... I guess I work on the law of quantity...... the more I do the better I will get and the more successes I will turn out..... I do know it is all about practice and I should look upon these lean times as good practice for the next ones, just a bit disheartening when you seem to have taken a step forward and then 2 back!!
Happens to me all the time. I'm only learning, but sometimes I'll paint something I really love and think I'm getting the hang of this painting lark, then have a bad week or two where nothing goes right and feel like giving up!
ReplyDeleteIt's reassuring to find that others feel the same. What I find is that you never know when the next good one will come along, I usually find it's when I'm just using some cheap paper to play around on and I end up painting something that turns out to be one of my favourites!
Or a good one happens on the back of another as with my chicken lol!!! I also find that sometimes I make a good start then don't know where to go with something.... or can't do the finishing touches. My Rolo painting just seemed to tell me where to go whereas the ones I've been doing today haven't been as forthcoming!!! Thanks for dropping by Margaret!!
DeleteYes I think it must happen to all of us - at least I like to think so - it makes me feel better! I feel that I go through peaks and troughs and I've come to expect it now - and I'm bound to as I'm still learning but we never stop learning do we and we raise our expectations all the time. when I'm going through a period when I feel my artwork is going well, I try and make the most of it as I know it won't last but then when I'm producing howlers I the same thing applies - I say to myself it won't last! It's also our own interpretation of what we think is good as well - if you posted some of your so called howlers I bet you many of us wouldnt agree they should be in the bin!!! Lovely to see that shell again - I remember being very envious of that shell lol!!!
ReplyDeleteNo believe me they're howlers Sharon!!! I think I could take some further and sort of rescue them but it doesn't feel as good when they aren't happening from the start, and anyway am actually too embarrassed to post the howlers and it wouldn't do my street cred much good either!!!
DeleteIt's so good to know that I'm not the only one with this "condition" - I find that a successful painting intimidates me for the next one, almost as it it taunts me with "Bet you can't do that again in a hurry!"
ReplyDeleteAnd as I mentioned somewhere (blog comment, I think), the more "emotional investment" I have in what I am trying to paint; the higher internal expectation I put on myself to produce a masterpiece; and the more disappointed I am when it goes pear-shaped. This is one of the reasons the monthly images on PMP are so great - the diversity of subjects - with varying degrees of emotional interest! - helps to lower one's expectation and allow room for "less than perfection".
I am still having a problem with the Venetian mask - was so excited about the concept, but just can't seem to paint what I saw in my head and now the image in my head is beginning to fade and collapse! I think that sometimes the harder one tries the more "contrived" and "safe" it becomes and maybe that's the time to call it a day....until that specific subject beckons again.
Agree with everything Dawn and maybe if you don't manage a subject at one time the best thing is to shelve it for a while and come back... that's what I did with the school..... my first efforts were dreadful so I left for a few years and once I came back I was better equipped to tackle it....
DeleteYep, same here. It is almost like a curse. I find it also happens more to me if I'm doing something FOR someone else. As a gift or swap - maybe it's the added pressure that it's going to someone's home. I'm taking part in a sketchbook round robin and as the books are getting gradually more and more filled up and I am seeing more and more art from the people who had the books previous to me - that adds pressure too because I can't help but compare even though we are all totally different styles of painting and drawing.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to read from someone with so much more experience having the same wobbles :)
I understand about the pressure Carmen... that's why Jean says to paint for the bin.... no pressure with that and interestingly she doesn't do many commissions..... she does her washes every day, might develop some and then uses what she learns to incorporate in larger pieces so she has already done a bit of practice before she's got to the main event.
DeleteOh, yes, I have my dogs - and summer seems to bring them out because my mind and time are not in the painting but elsewhere; there are breakthrough times and then fear sets in that I cannot repeat that success so I stop trying for a while. Our minds fight against us and bring up so many excuses why we "can't paint today" that I wonder we ever get anything done - or make any progress. The trick is to still that inner voice long enough to go to your art space and create something - even if it doesn't live up to your standards in the end, it is a learning process and what you learned from the howlers may make another painting just right!
ReplyDeleteYou've made a really good point here Rhonda that's why I wrote the piece about stepping outside my comfort zone. We sometimes get a bit paralysed by the "fear" of not being able to do a chosen subject and if that happens to me I just go back to practising what I do know I can do.... easy way out maybe but I often find I need to paint and that's it, when that happens I just play and paint for the bin as Jean says and it nourishes the need without disheartening me. Stepping outside though makes me think What the H... just go for it.... doesn't matter what you do it's only paint and paper, just give it a go!!!
DeleteYou probably already know this backs and forths are happening to me very often. I convinced myself (I hope I did the right thing for as an autodidact 'artist', hope is all I have) that painting or drawing is the same as writing. You need the muses to produce. If they are not around, disaster will be hovering above my head... Still, I do believe I need those days too. It's a necessary kick at the butt, if I might say. Through struggles and bad days, I ALWAYS learned something new. In my good days, learning is not ensure, but joy is. One can't have it all... :)
ReplyDeleteBe very proud my dear Judith, you are very talented and I'm sure you know it. (and please, don't throw your work!)
Warm regards.
I love the paintings by the way!!! You take the simplest thing and make it beautiful with your colour and imagination...
DeleteThanks Konstantina, yes I always learn something good or bad and I think my problem is sometimes I forget what I learned although the more I paint the more of a "feel" I get. And yes every time I pick up the brush is a joy to me too again good or bad... good is a bonus though!!
DeleteAs for knowing if I am talented that is a tricky one... I understand people might tell me that but quite honestly I don't see it.... I start each piece sometimes with an idea in my head, sometimes not but so far don't produce enough consistently good work for me to feel I have talent.....I guess that is where this discussion started in the first place!!!
As for throwing my work no I don't actually throw!! I will leave and maybe come back to it to see if I can rescue and then stack them away either to use the backs or to just see how I've progressed.