Monday, March 29, 2010

The Process of Painting


This is the painting I'm working on now. It's really helpful to me seeing it reduced in a photograph. I'm past the worst point, that part when the painting looks pretty awful and I just have to take it on faith that by the time I'm done it will work out. I don't know rather it's just the way I paint with acrylics but it seems to take a certain number of layers to get the effect I want. This reminds me of a talented friend of ours who went through a phase of giving up on his paintings too soon, to the point that he restarted one painting so many times that he finally gave up on it. This was a terrible shame because each one had some really good elements. As in so many other pursuits, it's probable that he would have learned more from sticking to it through the tough spots. Even if the painting still didn't work out, it would be worth it. I've heard it said that you have to love your painting enough to make some bad ones to get to the good ones. The universe won't strike you dead for making a crappy painting.

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