The Option of Persistence

I just returned from teaching several workshops in the Pacific Northwest. I met students that were just beginning on their artistic path and seasoned creatives. No matter where you are on your journey we all arrive at a similar place at some point, it is the muddled middle. This may happen in life as well, but it almost always happens during the course of painting or creating you get stuck. You begin with joy and abandon or purpose and direction only to reach a place where you get bogged down in the messy middle. I have witnessed so many artists struggling in this phase, often covering up everything they have created. I have sometimes stopped a student and set the work aside before they could completely cover it and let it rest. When I brought it back, they saw it with fresh eyes.

I associate this phase with the teen years. Your mind is all over the place and you aren’t sure where you should go next, and doubt is a major factor in this stage. The critic rules and many good starts are abandoned or covered up. When that voice takes over, watch out. I have learned over decades of painting that my will isn’t going to fix anything until I listen to the painting. I have ignored this so many times and struggled needlessly to impose my vision of where I see the work, but the painting has a vision too. It’s not that I don’t get stuck there anymore, but I move through it faster because I listen to the art and inner dialogue. 

What am I resisting and what am I afraid of will happen if I persist? I know in my mind I saw the work finished and it isn’t looking anything like that. Do I persist and try to impose my vision, or do I choose the option to let go and trust the inner process and dialogue? When I feel frustrated and my efforts seem to worsen things, it's time to take a break. Stop, don’t go on because you will end up covering up the joyful beginning.

Here is what you can do when you reach this frustrating place.

Take photos from the beginning and along the way. It is helpful to look at and see where you might have gone off course. This can also be helpful with your next piece.

I like to work on several pieces at a time because it keeps me moving from one to the other instead of focusing on just one. It also gives the layers time to dry so the colors don’t get muddy.

Keep rotating the piece as you work on it. 

Put it away for some time and return with fresh eyes. Turn it so it faces the wall. I have even put some away for a long time, then brought them out and placed the piece where I will encounter it in an unexpected place. This “surprise” will help to see what the next step needs to be.

To review values photograph it and change it to grey scale in your camera app. 

Take a photo of your work and look at it on your larger monitor screen.

Have a conversation with the piece. I ask out loud what texture, color or line should I add next. When I listen in my mind I get the answer. Ask the painting what it wants to convey. Perhaps you began an abstract with bright colors, but it is begging for some neutral tones and horizontal lines added. It never hurts to ask and remember to keep rotating. You get stuck seeing it and working on it in the same orientation, so mix it up. Rotate your photos as well because when you look at photos your eye will catch different details.

Persistence can become a dance and discussion spanning those messy middle teen years. Keep the beautiful beginnings, embrace the middle struggle and come out the other side while listening to what the painting has to say. It can lead you in a new direction.