An Incredible Stroke of Luck

Apparently, the Dalai Lama once said: “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes an incredible stroke of luck.”This year I was determined to take my art to a new level and I picked out several artists I wanted to learn from. But none of them panned out- the classes were either fully booked, or the artists had decided not to teach anymore. I felt quite demoralized.Then at the end of last year, I was invited to show some paintings in a small local gallery. They said sales had been slow for a while, so I didn’t expect very much from it. But fortunately, I was wrong and almost all the paintings sold.Around the same time as I received that unexpected money, I met Alice Sheridan online. Alice is a British painter living in London. Her work is beautiful and I was immediately envious of her skill and confidence. But I soon learned that her confidence is relatively newfound. It turns out she had been struggling to move forward with her work until 2016 when she took an online course with an American abstract artist called Nicholas Wilton. Nicholas has a lot of free videos available online and I started watching them. As soon as I did, something clicked.It was as if he was speaking directly to me – as if he had been sitting with me in the studio while I struggled to understand why one painting worked beautifully and then the next five turned into a dog’s dinner. He spoke with real empathy and humour about the struggles of making art, but he also provided concrete tips and solutions.After watching three short videos about design, value and colour, I pulled out several half-finished canvases and reworked them. All three came alive. I am so proud of them now. They feel like the work I want to make. They feel like me!When I found out that Nicholas would be launching a paid, 3-month intensive online course, I was sold before I even found out the price. And when I did find out the price, I wasn’t surprised to find that it was almost exactly equal to the amount of that unexpected windfall. It just felt as if it was meant to be. I usually struggle to spend large amounts of money on myself - it feels indulgent – and if I hadn’t sold those paintings, I wouldn’t have done it. Likewise, if I had got into any of those other courses, I would have decided against more expense.But luckily, I didn’t get what I wanted. Those courses were full. I took it as a sign and I booked onto the 3-month Creative Visionary Program. Now we are just a few days away from the start of the course, I am filled with excitement (and a little bit of fear).Other artists say the program is one of the best things they have ever done. They say that it has to power to transform what you make. I certainly know it transformed Alice’s work because her Instagram feed documents the changes.And, as I said, my own work has already benefited from what I have learned in the free videos.Take this painting for example:There were things about this painting that I liked, but something about it just wasn’t working for me. After watching Nicholas' talk about design and value, I went back in and started to paint over huge parts of the painting. Following the simple principles he’d outlined, and giving myself permission to take huge risks, meant that the painting suddenly came alive. And instead of labouring slowly, I was painting quickly and with real joy.Once I’d sorted out the design and values, I began to look for ways to make the painting interesting all the way through. This is another of Nick’s ideas – that people like to look at paintings in which something is happening all the way through – even if what is happening is subtle and not noticeable from a distance.Here's where I got to.I love this painting now. It’s far from perfect, but it’s me. It’s how I feel about this place I live in overlaid with how I feel inside my head, and it’s infused with the joy of painting the way I want to. That gives it a freshness and light and spontaneity that it didn’t have before.Here is another example:This painting had reached a certain point and then – stuck – I had abandoned it. In the past, I would have consigned this to be painted over, but after watching one of the videos, I decided to work on accentuating the drama using contrasting values, and changing the design. I then worked – again – on adding interest to even the quiet parts of the painting by making different marks, layering a range of colours, and using slightly different shades of the same colour. I used collage in places, I scratched into the paint, and I drew with pencil and pastels. When a purple glaze ran, I left the drips.It now looks like this:Which is to say it now looks and feels like me.Having experienced such good results with the introductory videos, I am “all in” on this program. I will do my very best. I will stay up late or get up early to fit the work in. I will experiment. I will let go of any preconceived notions. I won’t try to ‘be’ anything except curious.Maybe my work will continue in the same vein or maybe – like Alice – I will transform into something else. I’m excited to find out - bring it on!I’ll be sharing my progress and my experiences on this blog, on Facebook, and on Instagram. Check in with me from time to time if you’re interested :)