"New Garden"
10 x 10 oil
I asked painter
Colin Page, whose work I highly look up too, an interesting question on his Blog and he allowed me to repost his answer.
“Are you at a place where your paintings please you and become what you hoped for? I hope I don’t see my work as flawed forever.”
Colin wrote... This is a tricky question, and the answer really depends on my mood on the day in question. Sometimes I am struggling with every part of a painting and I get in such a funk that I don’t think anything I have painted has any value, and other days I feel like I can do no wrong while standing at the easel. Of course it feels better to have a good day, but they are rare. Usually I am seeing things I want to get better at. Even though it is frustrating to constantly see flaws in our work, that is the only way to improve. If we don’t see flaws in our paintings, we become repetitive and uninteresting. To push painting to better results we always have to be a little disappointed in our work. We have to know that we can do better, and even though the painting you just finished may be the result of your most sincere hard work and effort, we have to know that the lessons from that painting will help do the next painting better. The painters whose careers produced the highest quality work were all searching for something just out of reach and doing everything they could to capture something fleeting. It may drive you crazy and be disappointing. But look at your earlier work and the improvements you’ve already made and imagine how much further you can go from here. A creative life is a constant battle between the disheartening and the hopeful.
“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is given to the less talented as a consolation prize. Indeed, the idea that doubt can be heroic, if it is locked into a structure as grand as that of the paintings of Cezanne’s old age, is one of the keys to our century.”
-Robert Hughes
I plan on printing this out and keeping it next to my easel to help encourage me on those tough days.
Thank you Colin for your thoughts and for allowing me to repost. I encourage you to check out Colin's work because his paintings are every bit as inspiring as his words.
