Create, Destroy, Create, Destroy
The blog title comes from another artist who told me once that the secret of success was never to be afraid to mess up a painting. She described her creative process as 'create, destroy, create, destroy.'I didn't quite understand what she meant at the time but I do now.My own painting process has changed dramatically in recent months. I used to have a subject in mind before I started to paint, now I just have a general idea (landscape, wind, open space, air, light etc.)This means that the early layers of paint don't make much sense. The secret is to keep going even when there seems to be no rhyme or reason because at some point, the painting will point the way. Something will happen that I like and when it does, I will start to develop the actual painting.It doesn't always work well. Sometimes there is layer upon layer upon layer of paint and I still don't know where I'm going. Sometimes - more often - I think I see a resolution too soon. I jump the gun, chase that idea, and the painting hits a dead end.That happened to this 24"x 24" painting. It had some promise and at some point I made a dark mark in the middle and I jumped on it. It made me think of a stone wall running down a hill, so I went with that idea. But I just couldn't get the picture past this point.
I had tried layer after layer, added textures, changed colours - but the problem was the design and no tinkering about the edges could fix that fundamental issue. I needed to make drastic changes.That's when I decided to move from creation to destruction.
Yes that's an orbital sander :)Sometimes sanding the painting brings up wonderful textures and gives a clue as where to go next. in one case, a disastrous painting came to life after sanding - a few extra brush strokes and it was done! That didn't happen in this case, but I did get a lovely smooth board to work on and some interesting layers peeking through.So, I continued destroying, just slapping paint on without thinking. I didn't know where I was going - I just knew I needed to get something moving if I was going to get unstuck with this piece.The result was a bit of a mess - BUT, I did like the soft areas and the way they contrasted with the sharper lines and clearer shapes. I also liked the addition of lights in the land area.
Now I was cooking with gas! (as my uncle used to say).I wanted to keep some of that softness and maybe let that guide the painting. But I also need to fix that design. The white area on the right seemed to liven things up, so I decided to push that a little further.As I did that, the painting changed again. It still needs a lot of work, but it is now moving again, this time in a new direction. The softness is now being employed to suggest distance.
To continue taking it forward, I need to notice what I like and what I don't. I like the added lights and I would like to take that even further by bringing in more darks to push the value contrasts and add drama. I like the sense of distance created by the softer marks in the background, so I would like to push that further by bringing more textures into the foreground. I'd like to join sky and land at some point and make the lights in the sky event lighter. I'd like to add interest with line - again in the foreground.Then we'll see. The changes may take the painting towards a conclusion, but if they don't, I know what I have to do .... DESTROY once again!If you'd like to be notified when I post, just drop your email address in the white box in the left hand sidebar. And for more news, discount offers, and sneak peeks inside my studio, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter HERE. (I never spam and I never share your email address with anyone else).