For some of us, resolving a painting is more difficult then it should be. Once started, I am not able to see what I am doing with a clean mind. There are elements that I fall in love with a try to work around them, but never seem to get the entire painting to work. Recently I discovered that a painting that was testing my identity as an artist (another way saying, gave me great doubts about my ability) only needed for my scrape out the one thing that I thought was working for me, in order for the the rest of the painting to come alive.
Occasionally or almost always, the paintings become overworked. Knowing when to stop is a good thing. I have tried all of the little tricks you can use to play with your mind, like hiding the painting in a closet for a week, the black mirror, turning it upside down etc. Anybody have any other ideas?
Comment from an amateur artist: When I made the wall hanging shown on A&P last week,my husband suggested that I should stop putting in additional shapes that would have been symbolic of our children.
How acceptable is it for an artist to ask other people’s opinion?
I always work on several related things at once. Usually as many as I can fit on my studio walls and work on without having to move them around (with an appropriate amount of space between them). If they’re paintings, for instance, I’ll get 5 or 6 of them (depending on size) sketched in, then block in basic colors on all of them. After that I’ll pick one to start bringing to the next stage, and then move on to the next and do the same.
I’ve found a number of advantages to working this way. For one thing, I get a lot more work done. Also, I’m able to explore several approaches to the same problem and see the results side by side, so I learn a lot. If I reach a point where I’m stuck on a painting, I’ll just work on the one next to it. Often that will give me some clues about how to finish the first one.
Just to be clear, I’m not talking about starting and not finishing things. If I start a group of 10 paintings I’ll finish them all before starting the next group. And they’re all part of the same series, so the issues in all of them are closely related.
Anyway, that’s how I work. Hope some of it’s helpful.
Good question Bob,
Overworking is deadly to me too. David already indicated something nearly the same or identical, so let me second that. The best solution I’ve found is to always, always have another painting or drawing started before I finish the last.
Not only does that keep me out of that dull, witless, “What do I do now?” apathy between works, it helps me from falling too much in love with any one work or part of a work.
And Birgit? Ask away, but don’t take anyone’s word as gospel. Sometimes other people see things we don’t. I personally keep a sort of list of qualified opinioneers. There are some people whose opinions I listen to closely — people I love or like a great deal. Then too, if you’re interested in selling, you have to always look at, “Who am I interested in as a customer?”
Last, you must interpret the answers. That’s an art in itself.
In the end, it is you who must decide, no matter what you hear. It is you — only you — after all, who can see the vision in your mind.
What a great post Bob … the resolution is the most difficult. I have spent longer on the resolution than I did on the rest of the painting. And that is not right. My theory is something in my brain snaps about 3/4 of the way through a painting and then I am doomed. Not all of the time, but way to often.
My best idea is someone please help… please save me from myself. Paint with a friend. For real – I have a young artist friend. Her and I would paint together often in my studio. We will again, starting very soon.
She is trained in Russia, and I do not have formal training. We both have a bad habit of overdoing it, her by painting over the entire thing, and these works are beautiful.
And myself of course I overwork, overdo, over analyze … like I said … somebody save me from myself. LOL. : ) I think I may need bigger canvasses, then I do not have to keep painting over the same places. LOL.
I work like Rex and David, which is easier with photography. I generally have at least a dozen images I am working on as a group, all relating in different ways to one project or idea. I learn something from each one about the nature of the project, which develops organically.
This helps a lot, but there is always the same question about when a particular image is “finished.” Again, photography is much easier because I can “live with” several versions and make a “final” choice whenever I want. The quote marks are there because, in fact, I can always go back and adjust something for future prints.
I am with David and Rex – keep several going all at once. Then if you just can’t resolve one – it happens – you won’t get too attached or despondent about it.
I have these paintings that hang onto me like needy cats, and I can’t kick them to the curb, and I can’t finish them to my satisfaction either. I usually put them away for a long time and then take them out to curse at them from time to time.
I know those buggers serve an importatn purpose. I am convinced that all the sweat and angst put into the lousy, overworked paintings contributes to the “masterpieces” that seem to flow out of my body as if I were born to paint. They keep me very humble and very engaged in the mysterious process of painting over which I seem to have very little control…
Overworking serves a purpose. If you don’t overwork something once in a while, you’ll never know if you’re pushing things far enough.
Thanks all for your input.
Brigit, I think all of our work is symbolic, It’s hard to hide our personal life, it shows up in our work. Asking for opinions from others, you really have to trust and know the person.
David, good idea! I work on 3 or more paintings at the same time but they are not a series and I don’t start them at the same. I see the advantage in working this way.
Rex, Deborah, Leslie and Steve. Thanks again for your insight. I know a little bit about painting and am always stunned how quickly I forget everything I think I know about one hour after starting a painting.
I…am always stunned how quickly I forget everything I think I know about one hour after starting a painting.
I try to forget everything I know as early as possible in the process.
When I work I like to keep several things going at once. If it be a written piece of work or a painting. When I get stuck in one area I move to another. this way I don’t stop, and it gives me time to process what is wrong with another piece and fix it or to decide to leave it alone.
Very interesting post and the comments were very thoughtful…
My style of painting is a little different and it might be sacrilegious to some, but here goes…
1. I take a photograph of a face (I primarily paint human faces – I do not call them portraits because they are not – they are faces)
2. I work on the photograph and transform it using the various software media that we have at our disposal in this information age
3. Using the sentiment expressed by the features on the photograph as a goal, I start my painting
4. As the painting progresses, the ‘soul of the painting’ builds up and in many cases may be diverge or converge from the ‘mood of the photograph’
5. At some point, I just know that the sentiment expressed in the photograph has been captured by the oils on the canvas
6. At that point, I stop and rarely go back to the painting again…
I have tried asking people (close family or friends), but they usually give wildly different opinions regarding the finish – nowadays, I just leave it to my own judgment and it usually comes out ok in most cases… You are your own arbiter when it comes to this…
My humble opinion…
Bob,
What goal are you trying to accomplish with a painting? If you could write that down for a given painting, then you could have some means of judging whether you have completed it.
Think of the “painting a day” painters. Whatever their goals are, they have one overriding goal, to finish the painting in one day. Instead of asking, “have I finished the painting?”, they can focus on “can I finish the painting in time?” At the price of limiting the time they can get to work on a piece, they gain the benefit of a valuable constraint that releases them from many problems that we “painting in more than a day” painters face.
Setting a deadline might be a way to resolve your paintings, whether it is to finish the painting in a day or a week. Hey, that sounds like something I could use also! The key thing to remember is that the constraints you impose on how you paint (including how long you have to work on the picture) will fundamentally influence what your end product is. In a sense, that is a restatement of your post.
Karl,
I think I experience relief from what ever my issue/concerns are by writing about them and seeing the comments that come back. So I truly appreciate all the different points of view. There is always something that I learn or get to remember.
Suni
I know some artist that use an approach similar to yours and had promised myself to try this. Thanks for reminding me.