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WIP, I am thinking of posting one
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Posted
I posted a painting in the gallery last Monday and re-posted it today after re-working the depiction of the open sea, which lacked perspective in the earlier version. it will be interesting to see if it gets any comment on the difference between the versions but in any event I think, like Michael, that posting on the gallery of a painting as WIP is relevant as most of us enjoy demonstrations by professionals where we see how they develop their paintings. I got positive feedback on the earlier version of my seascape but knew the sea wasn't right but it took a comment from an artist friend to put a finger on the problem, which was bleeding obvious when pointed out and I stood at my easel cursing my stupidity!
Posted
Yes, put it on the Gallery - make it clear it is a WIP, of course....
You could also put it on the Forum, or on the Blog page now - we have the freedom, thanks to the new site, which we didn't have before.
I always love seeing WIPs - they can give so much insight into how other painters work; and we all work in subtly different ways. I hope my article will appear in LP fairly soon in which one of mine will be unveiled: and I suspect there will be some surprise that I managed to bring round a picture which was looking, frankly, 'orrible. Don't know about you, but so many of my paintings do go through this phase where you can't believe (and I can't either!) they'll ever work. It's important that new painters can see this sort of thing, because I think far too many of them give up in disgust with themselves because a painting doesn't seem to be working: well, it might if you persist with it. When teachers say 'don't fiddle', they don't mean give up on it and jump on it before you've given it a chance to develop, and I see just as many paintings where the artist has simply not finished the picture as works that have been overdone and fiddled to death.
If I say more I shall spoil the LOVELY surprise you'll get when you see it published....... but if I could give every learner painter a Christmas present, it would be the knowledge that paintings don't just work or not work from the first brush-strokes, at least when you're painting in opaque media. Not every painting has to be, or could be, a magical unveiling of your creative impulse and just transform the very media you're using the moment you sidle up to the canvas. Very often, a painting will be a structured, layered, constructed piece that gets tighter, in the sense of being more organized and thought out, as you go on.
Sorry about that! Long-winded response to your simple point, Derek! But I wanted to get it off my chest because it's something I feel strongly about - yes you can overdo it, but very often the problem is the exact reverse.