Shona came to me recently wanting to know how to get unstuck and make work she loves. She loves other peoples work but not her own, she desperately wants to produce better work but finds only frustration in the process. She wants to find joy in the making and success in the result. What advice could I give?
I thought…
Recently I started playing tennis again after 5 months away from the game. I’m not a great or even very good tennis player, but mostly I enjoy it. Not being a natural sportswoman and also being reasonably competitive can often lead to frustration at my inadequacies and wonder whether I’ll ever be able to fully enjoy playing, as I lumber around the court watching balls whizz past my slow flailing limbs. After 5 months without touching the racquet I was apprehensive as to how my return to the courts would go. I feared that by the end of the morning my feelings of inadequacy would be strident and I would leave the courts demoralized and in need of distraction.
Imagine my surprise when after a rather patchy warmup, I started to connect with the ball as well as I ever did. There were of course lots of stray shots and balls that flew directly into the neighbouring court but that is nothing new – it’s all part of my game. What I wasn’t expecting were the good shots that beat my opponent or the tricky ones that take everybody, including me by surprise. I felt great, I was relaxed and just enjoying being out there again, reacquainting with my tennis friends. I had low expectations and was delighted that my fears weren’t being played out. It was all just FUN.
A week later, back on court and expecting the ‘beginners luck’ to have truly run dry, I was flabbergasted to find that I was playing well again!! My first partner commented that I seemed to have control of my shots. Such lofty praise! Of course, I immediately drove the next ball straight into the net, but overall I was pleased with my play.
What is the secret? How can I bottle it and re-use it at will? On reflection, I think it’s because I’m relaxed. I’m there to enjoy the game and I’m not assessing my self-worth with each ball I hit. There could be a nugget of gold here for Shona.
I paint with a similar attitude. In the past when painting had me by the throat, each painting session either left me wailing in despair or elated by an exciting effect or pleasing outcome. It was not fun. I never knew which end of the spectrum I was going to deliver to myself so when I painted my mind was anticipating despair, yet also entertaining hope. Constantly assessing the terrain, what would the experience be today as I loaded my brush and considered my next mark? Fearful of taking the artwork off in the wrong direction I painted with doubt ever present. There was no freedom in my approach as every move was assessed and my self-worth at stake with every judgement. Oh Lordy, how did I get through that ghastly phase?
I learnt from others. I shifted my mindset. Changed the terminology. The word ‘mistake’ had to go completely. Instead I started using words like ‘curiousity’, ‘trial’, ‘experiment’… And I decided that everything I did, whether I liked it or not contributed to the final outcome – even if I painted over something completely it provided lumps and bumps to the surface and would enrich the texture. The more paint I put on meant the final painting CAN ONLY GET BETTER.
Those early paintings were thick with paint, as I rotated the substrate time and time again until I was satisfied with the result. I started to see a pattern in the way my paintings would evolve, and this pattern developed into a process. Slowly as I completed and finished each successive painting my confidence grew and the process became easier. Each stage of the painting became more predictable yet the result always surprising.
Now when I paint, I don’t seem to have to take the work on the arduous marathon I once did to reach the final result. I seem to be able to knock them out with relative ease, in fact now the challenge is to remain in the process long enough to allow the work to mature and develop it’s rich texture and surface that I love in a painting. I must try not to finish them too soon.
To advise Shona on how to get to this stage of ‘easy-painting’, this is what I would suggest:
1. Work small – so many people move to larger formats before they are ready. Your learning will by quicker by working on many small paintings than to be bogged down by a few larger works. Also, you will use less paint in the process.
2. Write on a large piece of paper THERE ARE NO MISTAKES/IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER and pin it on the wall. Live by it every time you lift your brush.
3. Have an abundance mentality. If you’ve done something good, you can always do it again. Don’t be precious and try to keep a nice bit when there are big changes that need to be made. We have all stood before a painting which has a lovely part in it and tried to make the painting fit around that little area. If you believe that you can create that effect again or are even capable of better, you will be able to take a risk and move the painting forward. In my experience, when a big risk needs to be taken it always results in a better painting. Another notice on the wall: I’VE DONE IT ONCE, I CAN DO IT AGAIN
4. Take notice of how you are feeling as you work. If you are getting tired, starting to think of what’s for dinner… it’s time to pack up. Many times I have made poor decisions because I ‘just want to get this finished’, or not wanted to waste some paint I had just squeezed out. Nowadays I rarely do more than 3 hours of painting at a time. I know for myself, after about 2 – 3 hours I’m tired and my decisions are not as sharp as they should be.
5. Don’t be worried about your STYLE. It will emerge, just follow what you love: colours, types of mark, compositions, and hone in on what you love in your work. Do more and more of it and you will get better and your work will get stronger.
This is a life-long journey. You will NEVER arrive, you will always be learning. That’s what makes it so exciting. Relax, and let it all evolve. Each painting doesn’t define you as an artist. Each painting is part of a life’s work. Just as each hit of the tennis ball doesn’t define me as the type of player I am, I am a better player now than I was 2 years ago – marginally. Even Serena hits the odd ball into the net, but what I’m interested most in is the experience of playing, improving and having fun.
Join me in The Upbeat Artists Group on Facebook where I share more of my process. There is a great and growing community all endeavouring to enjoy, improve and have fun as they make their Art.
Are you interested in learning 5 different methods of creating an abstract painting? Check out stARTs where I will take you through a treasure trove of techniques. Or would you like to be able to navigate your way through to finishing a painting with ease, register your interest in FIX & FINISH which I will be offering in October.
But most importantly, RELAX. Have fun, there are no mistakes, no mis-hits, just opportunities to discover more about what is possible. IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER.
How do you know when your abstract painting is finished? In this video, I take you through the process with one of my paintings, showing you what I didn’t like about it and how I fixed it and finished the work. I talk about what I focus on and what questions I ask the painting in order to gain clarity around what steps to take next.
1. Make a big move to disrupt the work and make a big change
2. Rotate the work so you see it differently
3. Ask: What have I got?
4. Look for repetition and ask: Do I need this? Have I already got this somewhere else?
5. Is my eye led around the composition?
When you have worked through these questions, and you’re happy with the work, stand back and walk away. Look at it again after a few days to see if you still feel the same.
Do you give yourself permission to paint? When there are pressing demands on your time it’s worthwhile to evaluate the importance of the attention you give to your Art. What it means to you and why you want to spend time playing with paint.
The journey from difficulty and confusion to clarity and joy. That’s the path we are all on with our Art. We are all at different stages of that path – some at the beginning bogged down among the weeds, and others further along emerging into openness where the path widens and the walking is more easy. We can kind of see the way forward – a bit.
How do you achieve Perspective in your practice? I’m not talking perspective achieved by ruling lines and identifying vanishing points. I’m talking about how you keep a healthy balance between the good and the not so good that happens along the way in your Art Practice.
Follow the final moves as I bring this mixedmedia painting to it’s finished state. This painting integrates photocopied images with paint and collage.
Finally, the insistent call of the outside world drags us away and we close the studio door on that tangled grid-locked mess of paint, hope, and self-belief. As we square up to the dishwasher and the dusting that secret smile is now a nagging sense of dread. Am I good enough? Why can’t I figure this out? I’ve killed my precious ….
Watch the finishing stage of this mixed media painting with photo collage. In this video I demonstrate how I finished the painting, analysed what it needed and made final changes.
So how do we get the confidence in the beginning when we don’t know that much? We have success. How do we have success when we’re beginning? We need bite-size chunks, roadmaps, guides – frameworks that keep us on track, keep us safe while allowing us to make decisions and learn.
When I was growing up there was no such thing as a ‘why’. Well, we didn’t know we all had one or at least there was no drive to examine our motives and find out. I remember doing quite a lot of motive examination directed by the nuns – but I always fell short and found myself counting down to the next confessional to cleanse my soul.