Growing pains

[Anthony Emmolo]

Over the past year and a half I've finally succeeded in supporting myself almost completely with my artwork. It took many years of effort. It has finally paid off.

For the most part I feel very good about this, but there is one painful area that I thought I'd ask about. Do you other artists still have many days where your results appear as if you've never painted before?

I'm assuming there are a number of yeses out there. So, my next question is about the way you deal with the pains of seeing your own weaknesses.

A couple of days ago I spent the morning in the studio only to wipe out most of what I did by the end of the morning. Then the next day I had to rework the painting and pull it out of the mud. I say mud literally beause the colors were muddy.

I look at artists like David Leffel who seem to go from start to finish without having to correct or rework, and I feel sick. Am I naive about the troubles they go through?

My own answer to my question is the motto I've used for many years: "patience and persistence." Any other thoughts out there?

Thanks in advance.

[Josef Sy]

Hi Anthony,

I feel your pain. I myself have bad days like those. "Patience and persistence" is a great motto and I would keep it and follow through.

One of the things that keeps me going is seeing great talent, great works and knowledge in this forum. It inspires me every day.

I have learned from a teacher once that it takes a thousand drawings to make a good one. It goes the same with painting. Hope you will find the stroke you are looking for.

[Michele Rushworth]

I don't know David Leffel personally, though I have seen a talk of his, last year at the ASOPA conference. I imagine he has bad days like everyone else. I would think that he makes some paintings that never see the light of day.

When I'm working on a commission, I pretty much know ahead of time what I'm going to do and I'm almost always satisifed with the results. (I say "almost" because the times I've accepted bad reference in the past didn't result in paintings that I was pleased with, though the clients liked them.)

Also, when I look back at work I've done a while ago, I see how much I've learned since then and I'm often no longer satisified with what I did previously.

When I'm doing paintings for myself, the ones that are not portrait commissions, I push the envelope of what I'm comfortable with and what I have done before. Many of those are ones I would consider outright failures and are now sitting in the garage. They will probably stay there!

Some day, like Virgil Elliot does, I may literally destroy those reject paintings of mine so that none of them get out there in the world with my name on them.

[Mari DeRuntz]

This is posted elsewhere on the forum, but seems appropriate here, also:

The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars.

Use your search function and you'll be led to many other gems on this forum, quoted from from the book "Art and Fear"

[Anthony Emmolo]

Thank you all very much. One of the things I love most about painting is that it's an area of our lives that we will continue to grow in with the proper efforts. At times the amount of growth ahead of me feels exciting, and at other times it can be painful. Still, I cannot imagine myself pursuing anything else. I wish you all good luck with your own artwork. Thank you for your thoughts.