A little reminder on my easel says...



Oh yeah, It's nearly impossible for a painter to always be "right." In fact it is only through mistakes (and sometimes disasters) that I've ever learned anything worthwhile.

Sometimes I even stumble into same mistake multiple times - like sticking my finger into wet paint to see if it is dry and messing up something it took hours to paint...but I eventually learned that it takes Ivory Black much longer to dry than my other colors. Duh. 

And for pete's sake, there are so many goofs that I make each time I pick up the brush that I often wonder if I am painting or merely "correcting." And truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way.   ;o)

1 comment:

The Space Above the Couch said...

i always loved the joke that oil painting was being good at covering up your mistakes. I'm almost embarrassed to admit I have a quote (taken from the Artist's Way) next to my easel: "God, I'll take care of the quantity and you take care of the quality". Perfectionism has been known to stop many an artist from being creative, or even from picking up a paint brush.

cheers, jp.