Sometimes that is where the art ends up. If it weren’t for trial and error and the freedom to tear it up and throw it away, I’m not sure there would be enough courage to do it at all! As I wet my feet in the fine art paint I find myself timid and scared that it will be cold if I jump right in. What if I won’t be able to live up to the standards I have disproportionally set on myself? As I have mentioned – this is my journey back to art and finding out what I am made of can be scary! But coming to the conclusion that I will not be painting like Rembrandt on the first shot out the gate is a sensible conclusion to make and finding the freedom to destroy my own work-in-progress is liberating. If I know I am not bound to the piece, no matter how many hours have been invested, then I know I will more likely challenge myself and attempt that which I did not know I could do.
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I was inspired by an artist I found online that has been growing in popularity. Her name is Genine and she has a lovely Blog and a shop on Etsy where she sells her prints. As far as I can gather she is self taught. Her watercolor illustrations are beautiful and happy and I guess not always perfect because the other day she threw out what I thought was a perfectly good painting. But her self reflection and willingness to share a failure is what inspired me to not only post my garbage-bound art, but take the chance in the first place.
For example, the Cherry Blossom painting I worked on the other day was my first attempt with mixing watercolor and acrylic ink. This is a technique I saw on Genine’s Art Blog. I tried twice and threw it away twice before accepting a version worth submitting for my own Sketch 29 challenge. In the end I still didn’t love how it turned out, but I had never used acrylic ink and wanted to try something new. There are other art pieces, like the raven watercolor, that make it only as far as the garbage as well. But as long as I give it another chance and know I have the option to fail as many times as it takes before I get it right, then I know I’ll find the courage to keep going. And wouldn’t you know, I am learning as much from my failures as I am from my successes!
Hope you find the courage this week to do it! Even if it ends up being a throw away…oh, and have a Happy Monday!
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9RPVTX8KKHYW
Learning from our mistakes is a valuable part of any journey. Remember, however, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Hope you are giving your rejects a few days of life, rather than tossing them too soon. A new day has new eyes. Even if you decide you still don't like it, it may have something additional to tell you before it gets tossed on the heap. What is huge, is that you have the courage to start. And, start again!
ReplyDeleteI love that you did this. I know of some artists who burn their work - very cathartic.
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