Sacrificing For the Greater Good

   This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2012

 

Yellowstone Gold (before)

There are times when we have painted something really awesome into our painting.

The object is well rendered, the texture may be awesome, and the concept is really cool.

However, it doesn't fit with the painting as a whole.

 

It is times like this that it is better to sacrifice this really awesome portion to the greater good of the overall painting.

 

For instance, in my painting of Yellowstone Gold, the dead tree near the bottom center had a beautiful trunk.

It was all twisty on the bottom and it looked really wonderful in the photograph.

I also like the concept of the dead tree because of battle with nature that is part of Yellowstone.

The earth sometimes just can only sustain growth for a short period of time.

 

However, when it was painted, I struggle with the composition.

The dead tree now stuck out like a sore thumb.

I had to make the decision to cut it down.

 The result is much better.

 

Yellowstone Gold, 20x24"

Satisfyingly Small

 This entry was originally posted on Friday, April 27, 2012

Yellowstone

7.5 x11"

 

Up until a couple of years ago, I hardly ever worked smaller than a half sheet of watercolor paper (15x22").

I had always loved working big.

But that was before I met my match in a commission portrait.

A very large commission portrait.

So it sat on my easel for weeks.

Staring at me. Taunting me.

I turned it upside down.

I turned it around.

I even put it in another room.

 

Didn't work.

It had stopped my creative flow.

I was frustrated and I felt guilty if I worked on anything else.

So I didn't.

I went weeks without picking up my brush.

 

Then one day during a torrential rain storm, I had enough.

The lack of painting was depressing me (and the rain didn't help)

I had kept a stack of photos a mile high on my side table that I wanted to paint someday.

Today was that day.

However I still felt guilty about working on a large piece. I felt like I didn't have a right to do so until my commission was done.

But a small piece is okay, right? 

Just a little bit won't hurt.

 

 I grabbed a scrap piece of paper and went to work.

And you know what?

My flow returned.

I was back in the game.

After I completed the first one, I painted another and another.

It was so satisfying to feel successful at these small pieces, that I was able to return to the commission with fresh eyes.

It was completed the very next day.