Saturday, January 14, 2012

Daily Painting Practice- stay in the game - painting the North Woods

I think for me as an artist discouragement and persistence go hand in hand. Often my mind's eye sees the painting  I would like to paint, while my physical eyes reveal the painting that I actually produced. They hardly ever match and discouragement follows.

 That's where persistence must come in. People who fall off horses have quaint sayings that tell them  to
"get back in the saddle" and  sports failures  are told to "get back in the game". But what words of wisdom do we artists have when things  go wrong? "Wipe it off and start over?" ... Not very encouraging. nor very creative.

 I am convinced that words of wisdom don't really work with artists anyway. ( even though we love to hang slogans and quotes on our easels). What we really need is tough art love. What we need and what we do best with is being told the cold hard truth.....  "Painting is hard and  at some point every artist will want to quit." Don't you feel better?

I think someone needs to tell all wanna-be artists -  what comes with the territory. A warning label should be required  in every first  paint set and they should sell persistence pills at every art supply store.
Painting is hard.... but that fact takes nothing away from the enjoyment of doing it.  Quite the opposite.

 So, for all those  discouraged wanna be artist's ...  keep the paint on your brush...  step up to the easel....keep your eye on the horizon line and relax and enjoy pushing some paint.

 Back in the North woods and a little progress.  I am  trying something different with this painting.  Painting the entire foreground in shadow.  So as I am working on the background, I am trying to make sure the  darkest values of the background  stay  lighter than the lightest values in the foreground shadows. It's not an easy thing to  remember.


I'll need to adjust all the light areas in the foreground as I  proceed with the water. Slow going  but  I'll stick with it.

Oh,   I  came up with a slogan  for the easel.  The effort is always worth more than the results. 

12 comments:

Celeste Bergin said...

Great post, Peter. I remember a couple of years ago reading an article in a magazine about how most beginning oil painters quit during the first year. They quit and never come back! (This information was based on a big study, accredited!) The article cited pure frustration for the #1 reason. Well, that makes sense! I agree with all you wrote here. If a person can weather frustration, they will be rewarded. Your beautiful painting-in-progress here is a great example. I like your new blog look.

jimserrettstudio said...

When I am asked why I spend so much effort at painting,it is because I just want to paint "one" great work.
Every time I finish one I see and realize new ways to improve. And it all starts over again.
We are our own worst critiques.
Great post, love the work.

Jhanzeb said...

Good job man~~! House painting Seattle

Anonymous said...

Holy crap! Hard to believe you turned the previous paining into this one.
I must say, I like what you're doing with it, but I thought the previous incarnation was just fine, too. I would say placid rather than blah. But that's me. You gotta go with what drives you.

I've always felt that what I don't like about my work is what pushes me to do better next time, so I have to do another painting to persue that urge. That's kinda long for a slogan though...

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

good slogan and nice painting.

Sumit Tuli said...

Hey I just loved your blog, it has given me beautiful insights on so many things. Keep writing such good stuff.

Anthony Zierhut said...

Hi Peter - your work always, ALWAYS inspires me. So, concerning what you wrote, I just happened to have seen this video last night:

http://vimeo.com/24715531

-- and I think it applies to what you're talking about. It's about writing, but absolutely pertains to painting, or any creative activity for that matter. I thought it was pretty inspiring as well (and nicely produced with the animated text and all).

Your work is fantastic!

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Lolita Tonoyan said...

очень красивые картины , мне очень нравятся такие картины

peteryesis said...

Lolita,

Извините, я так медленно реагируют.
Спасибо за вашкомментарий и за
посещение моего блога. Я надеюсь,
Google переводит это правильно.

Peter

Barbara Pask said...

Love your new slogan, we do need a pat on the back for just trying sometimes, ah. I always say the same thing, "painting is hard". I think the challenge keeps me coming back though, something we will never quite master. I love your work even if you feel you never quite get the result you want. Keep up the good fight and I will too.