I am often asked the question – When is a painting finished?
This quote from Jidda Krishnamurti is my jumping off point for thoughts on this subject.
‘There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination and finish education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.’
The piano – rapid watercolour/gouacheEach painting we work on (including preliminary sketches and warm up exercises) is connected to all the work we have produced in the past and any work we will produce in the future…….Everything is interconnected.
Unlike many jobs where there is a clear beginning, middle and finish – a painting can take minutes, hours or years to complete…….and even when the painting is not being worked on – the seed of it’s idea is still sprouting information, even if at a subliminal level.
I painted a ground over an old watercolour to make this image…A great way to recycle old paintings that haven’t worked.Something to consider is that striving for perfection can sometimes cripple the creative process.
As artists we seek to attain technical prowess, however it’s important to remember that warming up, playfulness and risk taking are all part of the exploration and creative process. Always try to work on more than one image at a time. This can prevent overworking the painting and producing mud, particularly when working with watercolour!
When the question is asked – ‘where do I go next with this painting?’ It is time to stop. Move onto the next painting and invariably at a later date the answer will be revealed to your initial question. Paintings communicate with us if we allow enough space and time……. When working on canvases….it is customary to turn paintings to the wall – sometimes for long periods. This helps an artist to see the painting in a fresh light at a later date. Any work produced in the interim feeds the artist with new information, which is often relevant to the original piece.
Regardless of the end goal…rapid sketches in any medium, along with honing observational skills help an artist to focus the mind.
Many years ago, I gave a workshop in Wales where a group of us walked the Brecon/ Monmouthshire Canal for one day. Every fifteen minutes we stopped and sketched for fifteen minutes.….Initially, this was daunting to some of the participants….however, by the end of the day…people were producing quick sketches, filled with information.
The point of this story is that sketches had to be finished within fifteen minutes – which again was an excellent way of focusing the mind and also removing the desire to achieve the ‘perfect’ sketch.When we focus on the journey and not the destination – we are freed from restraints which might otherwise interfere with the creative flow. The joy and learning will be found in the doing, and answers will be revealed in their own good time.
Magical hummingbirds, of course completely understand this concept:) Have a beautiful weekend.
watercolour
Reblogged this on Mark Geoffrey Kirshner.
Thanks for the re-blog Mark….much appreciated. Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend. Janet. x
Excellent post and advice and true of many (most) creative endeavours. For sure it’s the same with a book. It’s never going to be ‘perfect’ and anyway, what we might think is perfect today, we might find to be lacking a few days later (and the opposite is true too. Sometimes we abandon something only to go back to it months or years later and find it’s as complete as it should be. I read years back an anecdote about David Mamet. He sent the play ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ to Harold Pinter, whom he admired enormously, and told him ‘there’s something not quite right with it, but I don’t know what’. Pinter replied that the only thing wrong with it was that it wasn’t being produced and performed in a theatre and asked to direct it himself. And so it happened. As it went on to win many awards and to become one of the author’s best known plays, I guess Pinter was right). 🙂
Thank you, Olga for this really superb comment. I love the story about David Marmet and Harold Pinter. All these same principles apply to the creative process in all its many forms. I often remind myself that to wait for the perfect time to do anything is a mistake….as there is rarely the perfect time…:) Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend. Janet. x
Superb post…as always stunningly illustrated……Yes! I guess I knew the answer even before starting to read the post….True Art is ever finished….always a work in process….Look at Nature! 😉 Hugs! ❤
Good morning, Bushka, and thank you for this comment. Yes indeed – all we need to do is observe Nature….all the answers are there. Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend. Janet. xx
Thanks Janet…..May your eek-end go well….I’m sure it will. Hugs! ❤
More wise words from my favourite artist! xx
Thank you so much, Sarah….enjoy the weekend. Janet. xx
Really enjoyed reading this Janet! This is exactly what I tell my students and yes, we learn something new everyday! 🙂 Have a lovely weekend. xx
Good morning Miza – thank you so much for your comment. Think of you a great deal and hope that all is well….Will you be going to Portugal this year? Hopefully we will connect somewhere…Janet. xx
All is well, as well as it can be Janet, thank you. 🙂 Yes, I will in Portugal end of April and in November. Yes, we must see each other sometime. xx
I will just miss you in April…as I am there from the 19th til 27th, but we will catch up this year. xxx
Dear Janet, particularly eloquent posts like this one make me say “I can’t wait for your autobiography!”
I enjoyed your thoughts (as well as the variations/progress of the painting). I feel much the same way about writing novels. Bits of stories I’ve written in the past (even the “lost manuscripts” that got accidentally thrown away after a move across the country; stories 10 and 20 years ago). wiggle into my mind with thoughts of how they might be tweaked or the characters enhanced. Thanks for this lovely morning break. Mega hugs!
Good morning dear Teagan….Your comment is perfect and illustrates perfectly what the creative process is about. I am endeavouring to use all the tools mentioned in my post in the writing of my autobiography. At this point in time, I am observing the big picture…..jotting notes whenever a thought comes to mind…..and slowly but surely a form is appearing, much like a painting.
Thank you so much for your lovely compliment…it means a great deal and spurs me on:) Have a lovely and creative weekend surrounded with hummingbirds. Janet. xxx
Love it all!
Thank you so much for reading my post and for commenting..much appreciated. Have a lovely weekend…janet:)
You too Janet 🙂
Oh how I enjoyed your wisdom and articulation in this post, dear Janet. I so admire your fluidity in your watercolors. You really walk your talk, and I really enjoyed your talk here. I’ve been revising a particularly tricky scene in my novel this week. And your post just lifted about 50 pounds off my shoulders, so off I go…. Thank you!
Good morning, Jet…your comment put a big smile on my face. I am so pleased that my post lifted a weight from your creative shoulders. I can’t wait to read your novel……Meanwhile, have a beautiful weekend, and let the creative juices flow naturally, in the same way that Mother Nature demonstrates to us:) Janet….
Yest. was a great writing day, Janet, a real breakthrough. I used a technique I’ve never used before, and I know it was because of your post. whew, how very wonderful. Thank you!
That makes my day….Thank you Janet
Thank you Janet – very wise words and I think I have understood a bit more about what we do – still a long way to go for me!
Good morning, Jayanthi…you have come so far…and you will continue to grow with your art. I am always so excited to see what you are doing and what you have achieved…..have a lovely weekend and it wont be long before we are talking all things creative in Portugal. Janet. x
Good post, Janet.
Good morning and thank you so much. Have a lovely weekend. Janet:)
Sí es complicado decidir cuándo hemos terminado un dibujo. Sus acuarelas deliciosas. El colibrí es encantador. Saludos.
I am responding in English and think I have the gist of your comment….thank you so much for reading my post and for your words. Much appreciated. Have a lovely weekend. Janet:)
Thanks Janet. 🙂
Never, but I quit anyway. Always glad when one sells so I can’t mess with it any more. We must let them live!
Good morning…this did make me smile….you are so right when a painting sells, that’s it – no more fiddling. The perfect remedy:) Have a lovely weekend – and I am quite sure that the hummingbirds will be with you soon in your neck of the woods….Janet.:)
Thanks! You, too Janet!
love all these works.Everyone full of life, touching the finishing line yet ready for more, perfect dance steps , time captured, still moving…..
Good morning, Gil….Love your comment..put a big smile on my face:) Have a beautiful weekend. Janet. xx
😀
Janet, I found your post so inspiring for my own writing, especially what you said about striving for perfection can sometimes cripple the creative process. 🙂
Good morning, Carol. I have observed very talented creatives who have been totally crippled because of their need for perfection! Something I have learned, is that there is never a perfect time to do anything, and if we wait for it…..nothing happens:) My rapid watercolours help me enormously with this issue…..as I said in the post…they focus my mind…
Hope you have a lovely weekend and that your writing flows. janet. xx
I just love that piano, and the magical little hummer! Great advice again, I love to work on several paintings at once, and what a great idea to turn a painting to the wall, that’s a great way to stop finding fault or fiddling. I also love the idea of focussing upon the journey, not just the destination.xxx
Good morning Dina…thanks for this comment, and do hope you are in a creative flow after your amazing trip and enjoying the weekend…I sense that milder weather might be on the way:):)xxx
“Something to consider is that striving for perfection can sometimes cripple the creative process.”
Thank you SO VERY MUCH for saying that!
Good morning – you are most welcome. Have a lovely day and week ahead filled with creativity…Janet:)
Reblogged this on From 1 Blogger 2 Another.
Thank you so much for the re blog – much appreciated and do hope you enjoy a lovely day…Janet. 🙂
Beautiful Janet you are most welcome! I would love to visit this wonderful place! Have a splendid and inspiring time there!
Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend. When I go to Crickhowell in May, I will take lots of new photographs and share….it’s definitely a place worth visiting. Janet:)
I look forward to it! Have a wonderful time!
So lovely, my dearest Janet! Happy hummingbirds be with you!! xoxoxo, Kathryn
Thank you so much Kathryn….thinking of you as you settle in your new home….hopefully surround by magical hummingbirds. Janet. xxx
Loved this. I too work on more than one thing at a time whether writing, doing ceramics or painting. And, thank you so much for letting me know you liked excerpt 13 of Murder Set Sail. – Thanks again and Aloha – pjs/
You are most welcome…have a lovely and creative weekend. Janet:)
Thank you for the very timely wisdom, Janet! I needed that lesson about 15-minute sketch.
Your jewels of hummingbirds always put a smile on my face 🙂
Thank you again!
Good morning and thank you so much for this lovely comment. Hope you enjoy a creative weekend. I was giving a workshop yesterday and talking about ‘focusing the mind’ and how the 15 minute sketch does help:) Janet.
Your ’15 minutes’ rule goes for everything. If I am not able to focus and mobilize myself in 15 minutes, I will keep wasting my time 🙂
A very good point….I like this. Enjoy your weekend Janet.:)
Thank you Janet for this blog. I’m looking to change my style of painting and drawing. Your advice will help me remember to loosen up my strokes,
Connie
I am amazed at how you can capture the piano so effortlessly in those strokes.
Thank you so much – it was a rapid sketch….which I find to be very liberating. Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend. Janet:)
I really like your writing on painting. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for this comment…I really appreciate Janet:)