The Quickest Way Forward
The panels “after”.
An art teacher of mine once told me "Ann, not everything you make will be good". Oh how right she was.
I make plenty of artwork that if not exactly bad, is unresolved, or in other words not good enough to call finished. They can’t be made “good” or, most often, I lose interest in trying to solve the problems with it to make it good.
Sometimes, when a painting just isn't working, there's no point in fighting it. A dramatic shift is required to move things forward.
This is a story about one way to do just that.
Call me a perfectionist…
There were nine small panels that languished, neglected and unfinished, relegated to the studio storage closet for nearly a year.
Each one was a painting that was never quite resolved enough for me to say it was done. Call me a perfectionist or tell me that I am indecisive but to me they just weren't good enough.
Being unfinished business, they have been occupying a place in the back of my mind, beckoning me to do something to finish them.
So much time and effort had been spent on them, and so much time has passed without any work on them.
Frustration and fear were doing battle in my mind: Frustration with not being able to finish them and fear of losing the “good bits”. In the end it was inertia that prevailed for a nearly a year.
Inertia
There comes a point in time when I call upon my trusty orbital sander to dramatically alter the situation. It's the blunt instrument that can quickly get me past my inertia. So began the sanding!
There were some beautiful marks left behind following the sanding: Hints of collage papers long hidden under swaths of paint; subtle mixes of reds and pinks with orange; lines and breaks created by chance.
The trouble is that these too can easily become precious, causing the inertia to return.
The pretty sanded marks left behind after sanding…my little darlings.
The “new” panels with a base of warm neutral colour.
Little darlings
There is an expression I hear in art circles to “kill your darlings”. It means that unless the lovely passage, the one that you’ve worked hard to achieve or preserve, serves the whole then it has to go for the greater good of the painting. Ouch!
Oh how I wanted to save the pretty sanded marks. My little darlings.
But I made the choice to start anew. So even though it wasn't easy, I covered the lovely texture with a glaze of yellow ochre, then opaque paint and deep blue collage paper.
This is a new beginning for them all. A dramatic shift and a good base of warm neutrals on which to add more colour and lightness.
Edit: The completed paintings are part of the Listening Lessons collection. You’ll find them on this gallery page.
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