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Is it just acrylics that always have /that/ moment
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Message
Posted
Evening!
I'm wondering if this is a common issue or just me :D nine times out of ten, when i work on a painting, I have a moment about a third of the way in normally (very roughly!) where it just looks awful! A real 'it has to get worse before it gets better moment'. Invariably if i walk away and leave it for a few days / hours and come back to it i end up being happy with it.
Is it just me? Is it an acrylics 'thing'? Feeling curious!
Lucy
Posted
This is not uncommon you could be working in any medium. The artist starts off with a perfect idea in mind, but it does not come off as he/she works away. The task of the artist is to work at it chisel away so to speak to bring the subject to as close to the perfect model as possible. By walking away and coming back after a few days one can see the imperfections so the artist goes to work to iron them out. Sometime its all a big struggle but struggles are best for use. Thats way we become better artist. No its not you Lucy its all part and parcel of us all.
A very interesting point was made to me some years ago by an art teacher. She said some seem to have a flare and bust out but do not keep up the pace. While others start off not so good but the are constant and constantly work at their art. They are the ones that succeed in the end. Its not a flare for art, but a love for the subject that wins out in the end.
Posted
Lucy, I think this is a recurring thought for all of us trying to make pictures. As 'Picturethis' says, we start with 'a perfect idea in mind'...that's so true...but can we always pin down with any degree of accuracy what that idea actually IS? We're all different, but concepts like this are often vague in my mind, and therefore the stark reality of putting that idea down on paper is no small feat. I've just read that bit through, and I'm haven't quite got across what I'm trying to say. That in itself is very like trying to get that picture out of your mind on onto paper. It's difficult, if not impossible.
The 'worse before it gets better' notion is also an idea I'm familiar with. When I retired and had much more time to make pictures, I promised myself if I started a picture, I'd finish it. (I've failed miserably.) Recently I made two black and white pictures, one in Art Deco style, the other Art Nouveau. I got the 'this isn't working' blues with the Art Nouveau, and abandoned it. I finished the Art Deco and was pleased with it... as far as I'm ever pleased with any picture I make. Then, remembering my promise to myself, I finished the abandoned Art Nouveau. Now I prefer it to the Art Deco. It's a very strange business, this making pictures lark. I guess it all boils down to hoping the next picture will be better.
Lew
Posted
As far as I am aware Lucy, this happens to many artists. It happens to me frequently! I think the secret is knowing if you get to push through this stage, or whether it is a lost cause. If I get to that stage and I'm just going round in circles, I'll either put it to one side and return to it, or scrap it altogether. The best piece of advice I was given years ago was, don't try to the point of frustration. You know deep down if it will work or not. And sometimes it's better to paint over the entire piece and start again. Yikes!
Posted
Ah yes, the infamous 'ugly stage'. This happens to me during almost every painting (I'm mainly a watercolourist). It's not an uncommon thing. For most of my paintings I start lightly and build my colours up, adding detail towards the end, or area-by-area. There tends to be a point where my palette doesn't make sense, none of my edges meet up, curious shapes emerge etc. I used to see this as a point at which my picture was failing, but once I learnt to carry on anyway to see what happened, the picture took shape. Once you accept it as part of the painting process, it starts not to be so noticeable / troubling any more (at least for me).
Kay M
Posted
As you will have divined from these replies, yours is not an uncommon predicament - and just to add to the numbers, I share it with you. Perhaps especially, now I come to think of it, in acrylic - though why that should be I'm not sure.... I tend to work in layers in acrylic, so there's bound to be a point at which the basics are down there, but looking bald, unsubtle, even garish. Some, it seems, like to leave it at that stage, under the happy delusion that they're being "loose" - not that there's a thing wrong with being loose, but it's a result you want to work to achieve, not something that you've abandoned as just-about-good-enough-let's-not-spoil-it. I can think of one of mine in particular that looked so ghastly at an early stage that I was embarrassed lest anyone should see it - but then I worked on it some more, and it came out OK.
I did write an article about it, as it happens; accompanied with pictures of how awful it was, and how it had been transformed; sent it to one the magazines - years ago now, it seems. In praise of fiddling, I called it, I think. They still have it - don't you Ingrid? - tucked away somewhere; in a black hole; from which neither sound nor substance emerges ...... but don't think me bitter..... No, no, really: I can handle rejection..... of course, I've started comfort eating and have developed a serious drug habit, but I'm fine; fine, really......
Posted
Happens to me too, I dislike most of my paintings in the early stages, but can now tell fairly soon the ones that just won't work whatever I do to them. And the ones that might improve when I do more layers (I work mainly in acrylics). One thing that does work for me is instead of putting away a part-finished painting that's not going well I'll prop it up somewhere and live with it for a while. Then I can usually see after a while what I need to do next.
And yes, I'd love to see that article of Robert's. I'm sure it would be very helpful for those of us who struggle through the less than satisfactory stages of a painting.
Posted
Agreed Syd, I definitely think it's the working in layers that makes this point in working with acrylics much more pronounced. And that feeling of embarrassment you mention - i am relate completely. Way back when, many of my paintings stayed unfinished, now I have a break and carry on, touch wood it seems to work out most of the time.
You're braver than me Sandra - I can't look at them when they're at that stage, makes me too fed up!