On Perfection.

Last Saturday  Laurie Hendricks and I went for a critique and painting session organized by the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association . The host was Michael Situ.  We managed to arrive quite late but I think the light was incredible regardless.  I did the above 9"x12" study of some cliffs.
Lately, it seems my painting has stagnated a bit. I used to get very worried when I noticed this stagnant periods. Now I feel this months of insatisfaction are  more like pregnant pauses, sometimes even long pauses. I know I am comparing myself to other artists or using the same old tricks again and again or, worse, I am not connected with the joy of painting because I set to do other things, like paint for a specific show or try to finish in two hours.

We have a saying in Spain: "The Perfect is the enemy of the Good". This doesn't mean one shouldn't strive for perfection but that one must know that it is the striving that constitutes the goal, not perfection itself. How many good paintings have I  crushed in frantic overworking. How many times have I changed course mid-painting because I saw someone hit the nail in the head  or deplored mistakes that became such a big deal (when they needn't be). The joy of painting is sucked out of it when this perfectionism finally backfires, when one tries to be in many places at  a time mentally and physically. Even very tight and careful painters experience this. May be even more than loosey-goosey artists.

I will try to apply a remedy that has worked before for me: breathe. Yep. Remember to breathe. If I had a camera I'd see myself frowning and grabbing that brush like one grabs a handle in a roller-coaster when I am in the negative zone of "it has to work". I'll take five minutes or twenty before I dive in.  Contemplate. Make a tonal study. No rush, no goal besides getting an idea down on paint, whatever idea you like, wherever down is, on paint. Let the painting breathe  as well poor thing.  Let it paint itself . Aren't those the best?

And here, just for kicks. A picture of Richard Schmid talking to Tony Pro  with Daniel Keys close by at the California Gold Medal show of the California Art Club.  Ok, so perfection *is* possible in a few individuals. But just so that you never ever feel completely satisfied.

 

Publish Post

Calvin Liang's workshop. Day 3.

The "Overseas Painter from China" a.k.a Calvin Liang performed a looser demo today at Heisler Park in Laguna Beach. By the way, that "overseas" alias is the title of his published monography . A book worth having for sure but whose title is either badly translated or claims Calvin as a Chinese national a little too strongly or both. Was Picasso the "Overseas painter from Spain" ? or Chagall, the "Overseas painter from Russia?"...but I digress.

Besides hammering down "form, color, value and edges" today Calvin had an inspired moment. Pointing to the tip of his brush he said all four elements are contained in every brush stroke. Aha! So every brushstroke counts. I also realized today that what he means by "detail" is not what us westerners would consider as such per se, that is busy work, branches an pebbles. Rather, it is the just as precise and just as deliberate blending and enhancing of the initial masses.
Different today was the palette as well. Just because he demonstrated how he keeps three premixed piles of color, one cool, one warm (made of whatever is left he said) and a neutral grey one. Calvin winces when I say my colors are dirty. He believes it's all in the greys anyway. He also demonstrated the use of black ....in the sky nonetheless.

The use of covering a canvas quickly has become very apparent to me as light kept changing and shadows moving in the cliffs. I post here a bit of my evolution throughout the workshop in the shape of my three pieces. The first one looks quite tentative and confused, the second one of Crystal Cove looks a bit dirty but the basic methods are there, specially in my "Calvin cloud" in the upper corner right ha ha. My third piece -and may be- my most accomplished at this stage- took a lot less time and paint because I finally slowed down enough to become quicker, that is, less mistakes make a faster painting. Even Calvin liked it. He had some awesome suggestions I'll keep to myself.

I really focused on the "form" part today . And it made quite a difference When you think "form", and design, things start to slow down. You want to create forms in the most organic way possible, no parallel strokes or repetitive moves.

And that's that.