Well, not the art classes, as I have already signed up to the autumn course, but this painting. I have spent three weeks at class and quite a number of hours at home on this one, as there is so much going on and so much detail, I find myself mixing paint for tiny little areas and messing about with small brushes. It's not that I don't find the painting interesting, it's just that I am so bored doing the same painting for so long.
There are students at the course who have been working on the same painting for the whole course or almost. I just don't know how they can do it! Admittedly, some have done some good work and one lady in particular has done lovely work on the same painting all these weeks, but using the tiniest of brushes to add minute specks of different colour to a painting is quite frankly beyond me. I have seen the odd painting that's been worked on for several weeks and it looks so overworked I want to scream!
Give me large brushes and a good sized piece of paper and let me finish the painting in a few hours please. Spending so much time on one painting is not good for my mind, heart or soul - I have so many ideas going around in my head that are just bursting to get out and onto the paper to mess around that much!
Our tutor tells me that she would rather I did one good painting over the ten weeks, than several mediocre ones done quickly. Well, the quick ones don't have to be mediocre, and can be good testing grounds for a masterpiece to come. I may come back to this painting in the future (if I'm desperate), but for now I have had it up-to-here and want to bury it behind all my wife's pairs of shoes at the back of the wardrobe!
So, summing up, it's been an experience - some bits are OK, others not, but case now closed, I'm off to regain my sanity!
The painting is looking excellent Frank !..... but in the end I think we have to be true to ourselves - but having said that, I also think that the experience helps to find that true self.
ReplyDeleteAlice - everyone was saying it looks good, but like you say, you have to be true to yourself - if it doesn't work for you, move on.
ReplyDeleteWow Frank! I love it!!! It's fantastic!! Definitely NOT one for the back of the shoe cupboard!
ReplyDeleteLike me, you clearly bore easily. I hate spending days and days on one painting, so I know exactly what you mean :o)
Sandra - I know exactly how to get out of this frame of mind, the next painting I do, it's going to be a real quickie and simple. In fact, maybe even bordering on the primitive! Then maybe I may warm a little to how I feel about this one at present. Maybe!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more about spending ages on one painting - I don't know how anyone does it!
ReplyDeleteBut this painting is beautiful, I have never attempted anything this complex - I'm pretty lazy about the initial drawing too. As long as you keep going with the quick stuff and the slower, I guess it's all good practice :-)
@Cecca - you're beginning to sound like my tutor with that last sentence. She wants me to stick with this one for class, and do the quickies at home, so I benefit from both experiences.
ReplyDelete