I have painted very little this year – I just haven’t felt like it. And I think that’s a pretty poor excuse. So now that I’m on vacation, I have decided to paint a small still life painting every day until I go back to work on August 1. I’m hoping this will motivate me to push through and just do the work. It may not be pretty, but I am determined.
This was difficult. I was tired and did not feel like doing it. But I don’t always feel like doing my daily drawing and I just do it anyway and I did the same thing here. I started by covering my 8″ x 10″ panel with a diluted layer of burnt sienna and then did a quick drawing of my subject with more dilute burnt sienna before wiping away the paint from the lightest parts of the image. From there I mixed a few colours and filled in some of the major pieces a bit roughly. Then I moved from area to area filling in details and adding tone. I don’t know that I have a really great process – I’m working on that concept yet – but it got me through this painting. I don’t love the result. I see some depth created with the apples and the bowl, but the background is really flat and weird. And you can see that I rushed at the end with the fabric that the bowl is sitting on. I included this bit of folded canvas because I like painting fabric, but I was just too tired. And that’s one painting done.
susanne semchuk 
Hi Susanne – I hope you don’t mind me saying this…I think there’s a part of you that is highly self-critical and a part of you that is self-encouraging and proud. I am quietly acknowledging your Inner Critic and cheering the Inner Creativity Supporter. Admiring how you keep going in spite of the obstacles.
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I don’t mind at all – I appreciate the feedback. I think it’s about the gap between what I see in my head and what I see in my work. Often I can come back to something I’ve done after time away from it and appreciate it more. And I do intentionally do that. Regardless of how it all goes, I am always glad I pushed through – which is why I keep doing it. Thanks for checking in on me!
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It’s great you keep doing it. I like your creations, as do many others! And yes – there is for many of us a sizeable gap between the extraordinarily beautiful image in our heads and what emerges on the canvas. Yes yes yes.
So glad you keep going.
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I was thinking some more about what you said, and I think that it is about separating myself from what I create. When I am in the process of making a picture, or immediately after I’ve finished, I am looking at it in terms of what it isn’t (in order to shape it into what I want) and I am focusing on how different it is from what I want it to be. I think the trick to learn is to then let go of what was in my head so that when I come back I can see it for what it is – or what other people see. This might seem pretty obvious, but I think it is actually a pretty big shift. Sometimes I can do it, sometimes it is more difficult. The best is when I come back the next day and look at something I painted the day before and I really like it – those are good days!
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Susanne – I find this fascinating to read about. It’s not obvious at all. It seems to me that you are engaging thoughtfully and heartfully with your creative process, bringing great awareness and deep desire to learn and grow. How wonderfully inspiring!
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