Infuriating....

I just finished an 8" by 8"; went well, I think.  So then moved on to a bigger one - was cracking on with it, from a scene in my sketch-book, when I suddenly realized - 'ang on: that's not there; and that feature is below that one, not above it.  Question is, do I go on and paint a scene which I know will be inaccurate (and try calling it something else) or do I start over?  Unfortunately, the composition worked rather better with the mistake than it will with the correction: I've now got to move a small building, paint out a promontory that isn't there, go back to the site and draw it properly, this time.... work: my least favourite thing...   But I think the scene, being quite well known, should probably be more or less true to life: so - wearily, start again - fail again, fail better, as Mr Samuel Beckett said.

We do, we do....   What I've done is take a good mix of Indian Red and a green that was on my palette - Terre Verte, I think: Lord, I've had that tube for over 40 years! - and carved out a series of corrections in strong, not thick, paint with no medium added.  It won't be 100% accurate, but then it probably never would have been - one isn't a camera, one keeps reminding oneself, through gritted teeth! - and I'm going to let that get a bit sticky overnight before adding the next stage.   Why I bothered the Forum with my moan I don't quite know, except that it does show that you can rescue things if you stop despairing about them and take a brutal brush to the mistakes.  And that may be helpful to someone - well, you never know.  I would have been lost without my Chungking bristle hogs - or a painting knife, come to that: which I've not used for a while.  Flats, not rounds - you can't have too many flats (though arguably, I have). 

Yes - not 'yes, you're talking cobblers'....  Mistakes can be taken in more than one way; if a mistake benefits a painting, leaving it in can work.  I always get a bit peeved with watercolourists who carefully rub out their preliminary pencil marks - of course, I see why they do it: but often, those marks contribute to the painting's structure.  One of the most inventive watercolourists on here is Rupert Cordeux - and you can nearly always 'see where be's been': he keeps the pencil work, and I think his work benefits hugely from it.  Those aren't mistakes, of course - they're the scaffolding on which Rupert builds his pictures.   I think - on the whole: this is all generalization - that a fundamental mistake made early probably does need a quick swipe with the rag or sweep of the palette knife: if you make a mistake along the way though, when the only real alternative is to laboriously scrape away layers of paint and basically start again - well, to be honest, I'd rather just throw the canvas, board or paper away and start again, give myself a corrective Chinese burn, and make a fresh start.  Otherwise, you turn the painting process into a labour, to correct an error you shouldn't have made.  If a 'mistake' is working, though - well, go with it!   Obsessive concern with righting every error can lead to one struggling with claggy paint which seems to resent - deeply resent - being disturbed.  Go with the error, and see if the painting does work; then do another, with the right bits in it.....   I was able to correct the basic architecture of the picture I'm working on, and hope it'll work out - but fighting it in later stages would have been a depressing slog.... and the last thing I need is invitations to depression.   I'd post a WIP, but you'd all think - 'you can't rescue that!'.  Oh yes I can: but only I know it!  And anyway - you might well have been completely right.  Without making mistakes, without reminders of one's fallibility, one would soon get bored and take up basket-weaving instead (a noble craft: I do not mock it).  So long as we learn from those mistakes, that's all that matters.   Here endeth the Second Lesson. 

Question: how does one give oneself a Chinese burn?  Answers on a postcard please.  Prizes sadly unavailable.

Accuracy is important if it’s a commission, but I know Robert rarely undertakes commissions so just go with it is my advice! But, even if it were a commission, we artists are still entitled to distill the scene, not too drastically of course, and move a few bits and pieces around to balance the composition. I don’t suppose many on here would know what a Chungking bristle hog brush is Robert, but we both know that Rosemary & Co have some rather good ones in their range, I find them very useful, and they certainly take some rough treatment which they definitely get from me. If you’re an oil or acrylic painter, look them up in their catalogue.

Hadn't occurred to me that people wouldn't know - if they don't, well now, off they need to go to Rosemary & Co: excellent Chunking bristle is just about essential for an oil painter: I read a while ago someone saying that you shouldn't use them with acrylics, because they get waterlogged - well, only if you souse them in too much water!  The internet - the place where you can find some of the stupidest advice available.....  Synthetic brushes these days are superb: I have a lot of them - but genuine hog bristle has always been unbeatable for working with stiff paint. Mind you - first catch your pig..

Meant to say - Carol, thank you very much, I appreciate those supportive words.  And I note that you have a most distinguished surname.