I believe one of the most valuable skills I have is the ability to mentor myself. But what exactly does this mean?
For me, it is the ability to see what it is that I am trying to accomplish and then sort through my options for the best solution.
Take the little painting, Tangerine Tango, from the last post. I left off at that holding position. I knew it wasn't where I wanted it to be but I just wasn't sure about the solution.
As I scraped back some of the thicker paint, I started asking myself questions. What did I love about this set-up? What was it that my eyes and my emotions were responding to?
I realized it was the color relationship between the tangerines and this brocade cloth, the way the light moved across the forms and the feeling of warmth and intimacy.
How could I capture that?
It became clear that the 6 x 6 format is too small for a lot of detail - as in painting the cloth. There is too much for the eye to look at and not enough space to allow the viewer to explore the detail that I wanted to paint. With such a small format, there can be only one area of emphasis, which had to be the tangerines. So I softened the detail on the cloth, worked on creating a cooler light to contrast with the warmth of the oranges. And I put more air - gradation - into the background.
And another thing I realized was that - from this viewpoint - it was difficult to convincingly depict the lovely fold and the way the light flowed.
But I still loved this still life.
So I swiveled my setup around. Dug out my very last Vincent oil primed canvas (20 x 24), gritted my teeth and refused to think about how much that canvas cost me in case I painted a mess (okay, I had a back-up plan, had just reordered some more of the good stuff) and set to work.
Here is the photo of the set up again. I guess this is halfway between the small viewpoint and the large viewpoint. I love the reflected colors in the cloth and the glow on the underside of the tangerines - this is what I was thinking about, plus the way the light changes as it flows across the cloth.
I could not have painted the larger piece without first working through some of the ideas in the smaller painting. I don't always know how to paint something until I try. Sometimes, my intuition is good and I succeed. Other times I come close but fail to capture everything I wanted to express. Being willing to walk through my thinking step by step, asking myself questions, and then being willing -- or enough of a risk-taker -- to step it up a notch, has helped me to grow as an artist.
Never be afraid to use your best materials, to paint the same subject again, or to ask yourself to reach for a new level of accomplishment.
Be your own best mentor.
Superb explanation and illustration of your work--and very nice painting!
Posted by: Jean Spitzer | March 22, 2009 at 04:16 PM
You are 100% spot on! We are our own best mentors.
Your final version is definitely proof of this.
Beautiful work!
Posted by: Erik | March 18, 2009 at 02:10 PM
I love this post because ultimately, we are our very best mentors. I especially appreciated the advice to go ahead and use your best materials. It's so true...you know when you're skimping as you're working and it shows through. Approach every activity as if it's the highest art you can create and you will be your very best mentor. Thanks for this beautiful reminder!
Posted by: Rebecca Shapiro | March 18, 2009 at 08:52 AM
You can also click on the image and a larger view will open in a new window, if that helps much.
Posted by: sue smith | March 16, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Thank you for your nice words, Bonnie. Yes, it's teeny weeny for me too. I was experimenting with building a collage of images in Photoshop and adding text there, then uploading that as a single image. Typepad doesn't give me that ability and I didn't want a long string of images for this post. So, next time I will have to make the text font much larger than I think so it will read in the final presentation.
Posted by: sue smith | March 16, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Seeing them next to each other ( which of course you can't do until you repaint it ) I'd say the one on the right was enhanced by the arrival of the mentor to the studio.
Even your underpaintings show how beautifully and skillfully drawn your work is.
And much appreciated is the series of photos and your narratives.
( the print above each photo is teeny weeny and these elder eyes have trouble reading the headings - minor mention here )
Posted by: Bonnie Luria | March 16, 2009 at 10:23 AM