... by the kitchen back door, away from curious children and their fingers. And away from me because it'll take a lot of courage and energy and willpower to get it back on track, attributes which I'm lacking in today.When a work isn't going well I feel inextricably linked to it. I take each fault personally, like I've failed. But when a work is complete and I'm happy with it, it sits separate to me, on it's own merits, and I'll say things like 'It took on a life of its own' or 'When I was painting it, it was like I was an observer, and someone else was doing the painting'. I've heard talk of being in 'the zone' and maybe when my work is going badly, and I'm full of doubts and self-imposed pressure, what I think of when I look at a painting is the angst I experienced when working on it. That's where I am with this piece now. But when I enter into 'the zone' and everything flows, it is exactly because I loose all self-awareness and am not self-conscious, that I describe my success as not coming from me, but from elsewhere.
2 comments:
Don't give up on it, Steph. It has good bones and isn't finished yet. What is the one main thing you feel dissatisfied about so far? It looks to me like some of the proportions were not spot on at the start, and they have drifted out even further as you have worked on the grisaille. That's *so* fixable! Do the measurements again - what is the width of the eyes in the reference? How does that compare to the length of the nose? Is it the same proportion in the painting? If not fix it. Then do the same with the distance from the nose to the mouth. The width of the mouth. The ear to the eye. And so on.
You have only done 2 things so far - you did a drawing then you added a tonal underpainting. The underpainting knocked the drawing out a little, so fix it and then move on to the next stage. Simples!
Harumph. You're right. I have the whole day to myself tomorrow, so I'm going to attack it then. I've bought some turps substitute, white spirit and rolls of kitchen towell, so I'm all set to go.
Thanks for the kick up the bum, sis.
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