Thursday, December 4, 2008

. . . kept layering paint




to make something out of this canvas. I thought at first it was possibly the ugliest painting I had ever created, but it's growing on me. I finally quit working it over just to be done with it. I took multiple pictures of it, but I couldn't seem to get the color right. The top is more brass yellow than green, and the darkish shapes in the center section are actually more red than brown or black. This proves that I'm not too proud to post even abject failures on this blog. But as I said, it's growing on me.


Last night I took a look at the paintings I had recently completed. Some I thought were good; many I thought were just so-so. But after I have seen them so many times, in person and on the computer, and worked on them over and over again, even the good ones start to look bad. I think I should have done this here, or used a different color here, or omitted this part, or "what was I thinking?"


I try to learn something from every painting I do. . . even if it's just not to do anything like that again. So I guess bad paintings are not a complete waste of time.

2 comments:

Elis Cooke said...

sometimes I think I learn more from my failures lol! sometimes I also think I have to really wreak things to push myself into that 'got nothing to lose' feeling that gets me trying just about anything which occasionally creates something intriquing lol! namaste Elis. [sorry about the tagging thing-- it was reeeally a busy time-- but i do appreciate the thought!]

Mary Buek said...

You are so right, Elis. . . the "nothing to lose" attitude is what pushes the boundaries, and that's where I am going. Don't worry about the tag. . . absolutely no big deal.