The Best Is Yet To Come

If anybody asks me what my best painting is, I will always answer that I haven't painted it yet. I hope and believe that I'm being truthful when I say that, but until I stop painting for ever, I will always be trying to be a better artist. Every time I paint a picture, I have the opportunity to learn from my mistakes. Maybe it will be a while before I know how to correct those mistakes, but eventually I will. I am never happy with my paintings when I finish them. I always feel that I could have done a better job. However, after a while I accept them and am satisfied that they are ok.  Perhaps I'm too critical of my own work, but an artist does have to try to be self critical if they ever want to improve. I also feel that I haven't quite achieved the style I want to paint with. I am now at the point where I have painted fourteen paintings this year and if I'm not in full swing now I never will be. Looking at those paintings, I don't think they look too bad at all. It would be nice to sell one or two though. Anyway, I shall continue painting and continue trying to be better. It's really quite exciting to hold onto that thought that my best work lies in the future!

When is a mistake not a mistake?

I've heard it said that the best paintings are the ones with the fewest mistakes. If those words are taken literally, all paintings would look like photographs. Some do and I have even painted to get as close to a photograph as I could. I don't think a painting that looks like a photograph can be better than the photograph. Ok, so it's skilful to be able to copy a photograph and the painting will look good, buts what's the point. Paintings can be full of 'mistakes' and still look good, especially with impressionist paintings. You have to give the impression of something that looks right. Colours do not need to be right, trees can be moved, added or removed, straight lines do not have to be straight and people don't need feet or necks. Anything goes as long as it gives the impression of being right. Sometimes it is possible to paint something right and give the impression of being wrong. In my latest painting, I painted a shadow on some snow. The shadow coincided with a patch of snow on the back of a tree, also in shadow. It gave the impression that the snow somehow passed through the tree. That is the sort of thing that ruins a good painting yet it is not really a mistake and these are hard to spot. It wasn't a mistake, but it looked like one until I changed it.

Another, and perhaps more dangerous, mistake to make is to put too much detail into a painting. It is hard to know when to stop putting in detail and it just takes longer to finish the painting and adds nothing. Most of the time the viewer will not even notice if something is there or not. Once the scene has been captured, it's time to stop. There is no need to paint every brick in a wall and if you try it could ruin a good painting. Once the painting feels finished, it's time to sign it off and forget it. I am really pleased with my latest painting (BTW it's two on from the one I mentioned when I started writing this), but if I compare it to the photograph I used to paint from, I start to notice differences and ask myself questions like: why didn't I paint that bit darker or that shadow straighter. It doesn't matter! It's definitely time to start preparing the next painting.

Beyond Compare

How often does an artist hear it said that you shouldn't compare your own work to that of others, yet we strive to be like our heroes. Maybe that's not true of all types of art and artists, but as an impressionist myself, it definitely applies to me. Since I started to paint in an impressionist style, I have constantly looked to the work of other impressionists and wished that my paintings turned out like theirs. I see others that have copied the style of successful artists and have become "carbon copies" of their teachers. The example which springs to mind is, one of my heroes, Ron Ranson. There are lots of videos on the Internet by people copying Ron's style. To me they have missed the point. Ron Ranson's inspiration was Edward Seago, yet Ron's style is his own. An artist's painting style should be as original as their handwriting style, but we can learn from other artists' work without copying them. The important thing to do when viewing another artist's painting, is to ask yourself what it is that you like about their work and try to incorporate those elements into your own work. It's not always easy to do, but it's a skill which once learned, goes a long way towards helping to produce more satisfying paintings yourself.

Rejection

I've had a long break from painting. Life got in the way as it sometimes does, but I don't think that was the main reason. All through my life I have painted a lot for a few months and then stopped for long periods. In 2013/14 it felt different. I really felt like I was getting somewhere with my painting, but I began to concentrate on railway paintings. Someone suggested that I should try to join The Guild Of Railway Artists. I sent in my application, but it was rejected. It was that rejection that put the final nail in the coffin. If those paintings I submitted to the GRA were ever destroyed, I would not repaint them. I think a painting is a one off and cannot be repeated, but if it could, I would not change a thing. I would want them to be exactly as they were. So my conclusion is that I am 100 percent satisfied with those paintings. I  looked to the GRA for recognition as a railway artist and perhaps to be noticed. I will not submit another application to them. I don't think I have anything more offer. I like what I paint and just occasionally I notice that somebody somewhere does appreciate my work, even if it's just finding a painting on Pinterest, pinned in amongst some incredible work by famous artists or pinned by Daler Rowney, who manufacture fine art materials. These small victories are a big vote of confidence that really make me want to paint again and I have.