AN ARTIST'S ANXIETY

Finished Product: Time for Tea

      Somehow I thought painting should always be an enjoyable stress free career. Wrong!

I have come to the conclusion that it is hard frustrating work. It took me forever to define my style which is colorist/expressionist and now to ply my craft.  I pour over the books and DVDs of Anne Obrien-Gonzales, Lisa Daria, Carol Marine and Clair Harrigan. It is starting to sink in but there are many moments of; OK now what do I do and if I get any more layers on this painting it should be sold by the pound to get top dollar.

#1

"Time for Tea" is not going well to say the least. Step one flowed nicely with the stencil tablecloth and stenciled background wall space. 

Then in step 2  I tried the dreaded flowers and I mess them up every time for so many reasons. Jazzed up the back "table" with red checked design. The red checks were distracting from the focal point so off with it's head. 

#2

#3

Getting creative I added a paisley print paper for the cup of tea, it helped but now the white vase is  just a big dominate blob. I painted it yellow, that helped but it was overwhelming the design so I added a whitish see through rice paper to tone it down a bit. The finished product is at the top of the page.

What did I learn:

* When a picture is not going well I get "artists anxiety". Before I figured out the cause I just thought I was a bit depressed. Note to myself; expect this feeling a lot in the future.

*Dead lines that run down to the wire stress me out a bit. I'm the type that has all in order with plenty of time to spare. Well, I just lost track of time and the dead line date. 

* Have faith in myself that if I don't give up I will figure out the solution of what is wrong with my wonky works of art.

* Never ever paint those big fat flower blobs. Notice how they changed into Trumpet Flowers.