Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
I Can't Paint Today Because....... (Excuses, excuses!)
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
I was talking on my blog about the myriad of inventive excuses I can come up with to avoid actually sitting down in front of a blank piece of gleaming white paper and actually start a drawing or painting -
There is:
Not enough time
Not in the mood
Run out of a vital colour of paint
No idea how to start (that's a popular one with me)
Got to go out in 3 hours so can't possibly start anything (really??)
Can't paint the subject as everyone else has done it better than I ever could
and so on...................
What's your favourite excuses?
Posted
Here are some thoughts to bear in mind.<div>The only reason that other people are better at art than you are is because they have made more mistakes than you have, and subsequently learnt from putting them right. The secret is to do it a lot, the more you practice it and hit up against problems, the more material you have for seeking help and there is plenty of help on the web for difficulties of a particular nature.
Set aside 10 minutes each day to do some drawing, use a timer and deliberately stop when it rings. Use a viewfinder to pick out a random selection from a busy place that you have at home, everybody has a glory hole, a drawer with rubbish in it (do a close-up of part of it). Look on it as a necessary chore, you might find that you can't resist protracting the time.
Take lots of photographs, all practising artists tend to.</div><div>Do plenty of homework whenever you can, if you're lucky enough to be near a public library take out plenty of art books, not those which deal with just one artist but preferably those which are instruction books. Go to as many art exhibitions as you can and see what other people paint.</div><div>Hope this helps.</div><div>John</div>
Posted
I've no one to make excuses to, so tend not to invent them... but of course I have a few....
The usual actual reason is just that I can't think what to paint: even though I have sketch-books full of subjects; it's choosing between them that's the problem. I recognize all the other excuses though - I've run out of a colour (well, use another one then!) - I'm not feeling well (but then, I often don't, being 64 and arthritic: I know I'll forget my physical problems when I get into a painting, so this is a real excuse, not a good reason) - I can't concentrate (similar response to the last one: you'll concentrate once you pull your finger out and get on with it!) - Um.... I've got nothing to paint on... (so buy some boards, or use the vast stash of watercolour paper you've got in the sideboard) - I've got to write something (yes, but you're putting THAT off, too, aren't you? Get on with it!) - so, you see, I don't stand any nonsense from myself! Oh no.
Doesn't mean I do anything about it, though. Might help if I had a gallery chasing me up for work - wonder why I can't find one...? (Yoo hoo, I'm here......)
I agree with roly22, though - read a lot (there's always my e-book - Oil Paint Basics on Amazon Kindle, now you ask so nicely), paint something or at least draw something every day (was it Turner or Constable who said paint a sky a day? Very good advice), watch YouTube videos (Alan Owen, Dave Usher, Steve Cronin, Paul Taggart, Gagnon, just not Bob Ross unless you're having trouble sleeping - he's superb for promoting slumber, and I don't mean that in an unfriendly way), take photographs, make sketches, get yourself out of the house and take a little A5 sketchbook and pencil with you: perhaps a just a few colours, too; and, as Michaelangelo said - "draw Antonio, draw Antonio, draw Antonio, and do not waste time" (in repetition, perhaps).
Posted
Mind you, why we all have to draw Antonio I never did understand........ Perhaps it's less ambiguous in Italian - Disegnia, Antonio .... e non perder tempo, from memory and probably wrong. The answer doubtless lies in the insertion of a comma, as, indeed, it so often does.
I do apologize for burbling, it's that time of day.
Posted
This topic fascinates me. I assumed, when I retired a few years ago and decided to have a really serious go at painting, that the reluctance to actually do it was down to my own inexperience and ineptitude. A worry that everything I did was rubbish. So, I read loads of magazines, acquired a mighty stock of books, looked at a few videos, and decided upon a way forward that would suit me well. Ah, but I had to build a house, make a garden, all sorts of things that relegated a "hobby" to the back burner.
I'd no idea that experienced ("proper") painters felt similarly!
Hell, once I knew how to paint, what was going to stop me..............
Lots, it would seem. Especially if proficient painters feel the same way.
But, the one thing I do know is that the more I paint, the better I will get. So why do I put off the one thing that I'm certain will guarantee improvement?
I really don't know!!
Posted
My problem is knowing what to paint but i paint a lot by imagination and do lots of little thumbnail sketches using my recollections of scenes and memories etc.I then pick a thumbnail that appeals to me and draw it out bigger on the board or paper and just go on and paint it. If it crashes it doesnt matter. You have added a bit to your experience. one successful painting in four or more is about average even for the professionals. ...I paint, when im not gardening feeding my 24 goldfish in the pond. sailing model boats , running model garden trains . watchin TV, setting table .,washing dishes. clearing table , making soup baking bread ,arguing with my better half, hanging out the washing and all the little jobs my wife asks me to do. I was 89 two weeks ago so Thea you are a young girl by comparison. Try a still life Thea you can always do little bits of it when you have the time and it gets you going to try to finish it.
Its always another bit of practice and practice makes perfect.......Syd