Is it Done Yet?
Of course, giving up on a thing when you’re sick of it isn’t always the best way to decide it’s done. My solution: put the artwork in the closet and forget about it for a while. When enough time has passed I go and look at it, and the question of whether the piece is finished very quickly answers itself.
I’ve discovered another advantage to this approach. Sometimes I know I should redo some section of a painting, but I decide against it because I am just too tired to tackle it, and want to get on with another project. Put the problem away for a month or two, and I find that I again have the energy to fix whatever needs to be fixed.
Titian used to start a painting, rough it in over a couple of days, turn it against a wall and leave it for a few months before taking it up again. I think he must have been using the same principle I use when I put things in that dark closet and forget about them for a bit. At any rate, his idea might be a first cousin to mine, although I give him credit for having thought of it first.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Problem Solving in Art
Squinting must be one of humanity’s greatest inventions. When I am at a loss about what to do with an unusually obdurate painting, I look at it and squint. Once my headache clears up, I’ve gotten a start on what needs to be simplified or changed.
Maybe this works for me because I give my brain a nice problem: what has to be edited out of a scene so that enough of it remains for the mind to make sense of it? Theoretically the optic nerve is impartial, so I can depend on its decisions.
Another recommended method of determining what’s wrong with a piece that just isn’t cooperating, is to look at it upside down. Frankly this one has never worked that well for me. Still, if some line I’ve convinced myself is ramrod straight just happens not to be so straight, the upside down trick will usually deliver the bad news.
Supposedly, one of the premier challenges for the artist is to know when to stop working on his piece of art. I generally stop when I’m sick of the thing.
Squinting must be one of humanity’s greatest inventions. When I am at a loss about what to do with an unusually obdurate painting, I look at it and squint. Once my headache clears up, I’ve gotten a start on what needs to be simplified or changed.
Maybe this works for me because I give my brain a nice problem: what has to be edited out of a scene so that enough of it remains for the mind to make sense of it? Theoretically the optic nerve is impartial, so I can depend on its decisions.
Another recommended method of determining what’s wrong with a piece that just isn’t cooperating, is to look at it upside down. Frankly this one has never worked that well for me. Still, if some line I’ve convinced myself is ramrod straight just happens not to be so straight, the upside down trick will usually deliver the bad news.
Supposedly, one of the premier challenges for the artist is to know when to stop working on his piece of art. I generally stop when I’m sick of the thing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)