My grandson was making a postcard to send to his other grandfather. He became so frustrated that the image he had in his head was not being reproduced on the page. He stopped creating and couldn’t put brush to paper anymore. He was devastated. I told him to just keep going, to take joy in the process. He did and the postcard turned out amazing.
There is something to be learned by just finishing your painting, or your project. As you’re beginning, a lot of paintings go through an ugly stage where you want to quit but if you keep going you can pull it past that point. You learn about adjusting the values so that they work. You learn about the joy of creating and seeing how your painting has ended up. Each painting is a stepping stone to the next one. You learn something from the previous painting that you can put into the next one. Part of the joy that comes from painting is the quest for a better painting. It’s a lifelong quest. So paint and when you get the feeling that your painting is not turning out like you wanted, don’t rip it up, finish it and take joy in the creative process. making something that wasn’t there before.
Excellent advice. I am a quilter, not a painter, but we go through the same stages of discouragement. I have 2 mantras that help me:
#1 — Done is the new perfect, and
#2 — No one else will look at this quilt like I do. No one will ever see the problems I am complaining about.
Love seeing your art work, Sherry.
Thanks Verlene. Those are two great mantras that work for art as well as quilting.