Originally Published – March 24, 2024, 1:37 pm
Ugly Stage
Most every painting I’ve been involved with, at some point… goes through an ugly stage. Its that place where you are looking at the work, maybe hours have already passed, and that excitement, hope, vision and inertia that you started with, is waning.
Why?
What you see in front of you has moved out of that honeymoon stage where you were just a little while before… and now you are questioning if the choices you had made early in the painting process, were such a good idea?
Now What?
Should I start over, should I put it aside, is it worth any further effort? Every artist knows this place in the process. The fork in the road. The go, no go point.
So, where do I go from here?
It can be very intimidating. Sometimes it might be easiest… and safest to let the work just die. Dig a hole and bury your Frankenstein’s monster, or maybe just paint over it and start again?
Opportunity
I like this quote by Robin S. Sharma, “The activity you’re most avoiding contains your biggest opportunity.”
One artist, perhaps you have heard his name before… Leonardo da Vinci? Da Vinci is supposed to have said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” With that in mind, some paintings are abandoned… maybe too early in their young life.
But its up to the artist to make the call. Live or die? Thumbs up or down? Believe there is hope and some future beauty about to appear or give up saying this is a battle that cant be won.
Brave Soul
But I like to think that any artist worth his salt will take the challenge. Like some Don Quixote, riding forth to do battle with the four-armed windmill, while the tune of “The Impossible Dream” plays in his head… that brave soul goes forth with brushes slashing through the barriers with hopeful artistic strokes. Filled with a temerity UN-detoured and driven by a vision only he can imagine, and the work continues.
Above and Below
What lies beneath the paintings you see? Gesso? Canvas? Well, yes. There is that. But what of the struggles that occurred before the art you are beholding emerged from that ugly stage I have been telling you about? As they say, “The struggle is real!”
Every piece of art comes to us with an untold, unseen story that is imprisoned beneath the painting in the frame. Most of the time, only the artist knows the real backstory… that is, unless he lets you in on the secret.
Dave
