When things go pear-shaped.

Things don't always work out in this art lark, do they? Usually, you can tell early on that things are going wrong, and you can ditch it and start again. But I amaze myself that too often I finish things that just aren't working...probably in the hope that I can 'turn' it around. After all, often with work that turns out OK there's usually a point where it seems to be going pear-shaped. What brought this on is me posting something this morning, and then, about half an hour later, deleting it...because it was rubbish. Sometimes the passing of time can change your mind about pictures, but I've quite a few where my mind remains firmly unchanged. So I thought I'd show some here, give the whys and wherefores, and maybe others might share their failures and disappointments. I like doing art best, but I also like talking about it...and as posting these is a form of critique maybe it has a place in the forum. So here's a couple...to start with. I did this about ten years ago, it's watercolor, when it was underway I thought it was going well (not always a good sign). There are bits I really like but it doesn't work as a whole. Still don't like it. The cause is that I used several reference photos, copied them too closely and it doesn't 'gel'. These days I rarely copy things exactly, I try to extract information from ref pics rather than just flat out copying them. For a start it would be better if the girls were looking at the parrots. The girls and the parrots were three different photos, the fatsia and other leaves were from my garden. Also lots of niggly little bits...the eyes aren't done very well, confused light sources, for example. So this picture taught me that when using references from several different sources, DON'T copy them exactly. I know some people can do this, but I'm not one of them. Here's another sketchy cartoon thing I haven't posted. It was done about four months ago when I'd spent hours in an NHS waiting room, so that my wife could see a doctor for about ten minutes. When we eventually got home I drew this fairly quickly. Not a good idea...I should have had a cup of tea, read a book or watched a movie. Not started a drawing when I felt sour and grumpy. I don't like it because it's mean spirited and not drawn very well. What I learned from this is don't draw something when you're feeling ratty. Well, there's a couple, I have many others, but we'll see how it goes. Things being as they are I may well remove this post...maybe it isn't a good idea. Lew.

That's interesting Margaret, the majority of my work I regard as 'acceptable', as for the stuff I really like, David's 10% seems about right. In my case there's at least another 10% that I'm never going to like. I guess we all have high hopes when we start something, and that provides the impetus to start the next one. Whoever made the 'art is just a series of mistakes' quote, is right on the button.

You are quite right, of course, Jenny. Doubts really are part of the process. I also had some of those about posting this thread, maybe all I'm saying is what everybody already knows. It's probably better to read something about things going right. So I think perhaps I'll leave it there. Thank you Margaret, David, and Jenny for your responses.

Glad you like it, Sylvia, even if I don't. I guess you've been through the 'waiting room mill', maybe even more than my wife and me. I didn't put it in the gallery because I felt a bit guilty about it...the NHS staff are doing the best they can, they just don't have the resources they need. I'd driven home from the last one thinking of all the hours sat in waiting rooms, the travelling there and back, the pounds and pounds of parking fees, and setting that against the time Jean had actually been in front of a nurse or a doctor. So I was a very sour faced mutt when I drew that. Doesn't exist anymore, except as a photo.

Yes Brian, I agree that time can sometimes make you feel better about things, but I've been talking about pics where it hasn't. I guess if you try to make pictures, doubt and frustration is part of the process. Maybe next time I'm in an art shop, I'll ask for a bag of doubts as it seems such an essential part of the equipment needed. I was going to let this fizzle out, but maybe I'll move on to one more aspect. When I look at my own stuff the things I'm most satisfied with are those pictures that are edging towards surrealism...not just the cartoon style stuff, cartoons often have a surreal element. There's a great swathe of surrealism that I DON'T like, the kind I admire is Rene Magritte's paintings. Other, more modern, artists I like are Micheal Chevel who paints beautiful odd pictures (he calls himself an absurdist). Rob Gonsalves' art played wonderful tricks with perspective and illusion, he called himself a surrealist, but his agent marketed his work as 'Magic Realism'...so much for art 'labels'. The British artist Mike Worrall also produces fascinating work. If you know them, or look them up, you may not like them, but it's the kind of art that floats my boat. So what I'm talking about now is not messing up, more struggling, and failing. I guess I'd really like to be a surrealist. I've posted several attempts at surrealism...they were OK, up to a point, or I wouldn't have posted them. Here's a few I haven't posted.... Surrealists often paint things like this, so I thought I'd have a go. It's from a sketchbook, the place to experiment. It's straight out of my head and has a cartoonish feel...I can do them fairly quickly. I think that's the problem. Maybe if I painted the man and his dog realistically it would be more surreal. But I'm not sure, and so far I haven't tried. I don't want to spend the time and effort to end up with a picture I don't like. So maybe this sketchbook effort has served it's purpose. Surrealists seem able to put anything in their paintings, they don't seem to make sense (part of the attraction for me), but they still seem to work...until I try it. This is old, at least 10 years. Back them I was toying with acrylics (didn't like them). It's unfinished, and needs a lot more work. It won't be now, because I painted over the board with white. I had such hopes for it. Here's another in similar vein...watercolour and pen... This began with me trying to make it more realistic...I like several bits, but it doesn't work. I shouldn't have used the ref pic for the girl in the middle...I've seen it in so many times in other artist's work. Oddly, I've painted it OK but it doesn't seem right. The man's face and the nude are ok, I used ref pics but made no attempt to copy them slavishly...just used what I wanted. They don't look much like the photos (the nude highly simplified and given a different face....I just took the pose). The frog was copied from a grandson's plastic toy. The eye bursting through is a common surrealist element...I just did my own version. But it doesn't work as a painting. Maybe it's the placement of things, and the floor should have been done differently...had I made those faces more realistic it might have helped. There's some element of surrealism that I'm not getting, maybe that's the attraction. I hope this is of some interest. It's no big deal, I know. I enjoyed the actual painting process on these pictures, if not the result. Lew.

I thought I'd resurrect this thread to give these digital pics a brief light of day. I unearthed them in one of my periodic computer clear outs. The first is my last attempt at a full bore computer painting. It seemed to take forever, it was around this time I decided to shift completely over to conventional brush and paint. All that work, and I was underwhelmed by the result...and now...several years on...I still am. Fantasy art, of course, not everyone's cup of tea. There are bits of it I really like, but too much that I don't (I won't list them)...it doesn't work as a picture. I had another go at a similar fantasy image...and got in such a mess with it, I deleted the file. When working in digital you can save individual bits...the three characters below were from this dumped picture. The idea was a dwarf creeping past a HUGE sleeping dragon to rescue a girl, and the dragon's keeper would appear in the doorway. I kept these three (all individual files), they were the only bits I liked. As I recall, I made a complete mess of the cave it all took place in, and the sleeping dragon...the biggest thing in the picture. So, no big deal. Pictures don't come out as well as you hoped, but the time spent on paintings like that is never wasted. Trying to make pictures is a fun thing to do. And I like these survivors. I've posted the tip-toeing dwarf in the gallery, but won't be posting the other bits. I hope it's of interest. Lew