The life of Art

Hmm, I'm pleased with this part!

Isn’t it funny how many aspects of painting reflect issues in life? I’ve been working on a painting for a while now, it’s a family portrait. Unfortunately the photograph I’m working from is not high resolution, and taken with an everyday camera and flash. They are all wearing white. The reflection of the flash off the white clothing causes loss of detail and not much shading.

As an artist you try your best to make the painting look good, you try to enhance the lighting and the details so that the painting will be so much better than the photograph. Sometimes this is very frustrating and the effort can be quite exhausting.

So you tackle one section or problem at a time. When it works out, you are pleased with the result. I’m at that point now. There are parts of the painting that I am pleased with, it’s nice to work on those sections, I want to stay there, not move on. But, you can’t stay there, they are done, complete, finished, and it’s time to move on to the next challenging section. I know that as I tackle each section and solve its problems, I will feel good, and I will be one step close to completion.

Isn’t that JUST like life in general? It is so nice to do the easy things and not nice to tackle the tough things. Just like when as children, my sister and I had to wash dishes, and one of us quickly blurted out “I’ll wash the plates and cups, you can wash the pots!” No one likes doing the tough jobs.

So now it’s time for me to make the bed, load the washing machine, make breakfast and finish this painting.

Take care!