Out with the old?
So I learned a lesson recently. I had a very large painting that I have always been vaguely dissatisfied with. There was just something about it that bothered me. Plus since I painted it in 2016 I have never had even one person be interested in it. I donated it to a charity, for auction and no one wanted it. The charity went belly up. So I did my own auction. Not one bite. It has been sitting in my basement, in a large box. Sealed up for delivery for more than a year. So when the charity went out of business, I took it out of the box, and hung it up on the wall where I could see it. What is wrong with it? I asked myself. I could see a few things, but it wasn’t totally clear. So I posted it on a private art group page on Facebook and asked for feedback.
I got a lot of opinions. Some I agreed with and some I did not. It was too cold. It was an unknown part of the world and people could not relate. The snow didn’t reflect the light around it. The water was too dark. But I took it all in, and decided what I needed to change if this was going to be a good painting. And then I took out my large brush, and some raw umber paint, and I completely painted over the foreground. I changed the composition completely. And I painted over it. It is just a totally new painting. And it is very nice. I have been receiving a lot of really positive feedback on it. I gave it a new name. Ozark Light. It is a good example of what I am capable of in 2021.
But… unexpectedly… I’m sad. Because Lavender woods was a good example of what I was capable of in 2016. And it is gone forever.
I posted the new painting on that same group page, and guess what? Several of the first comments were of how much they loved the ORGINAL PAINTING! ARGH!
So… what is the lesson? Let sleeping paintings lie. Do something new that improves on what you don’t like. But leave the old as a snap shot of where you were when you painted that thing. It came out of my heart and my mind and my inspiration of the moment. And now it’s gone.
Ozark light is a good painting. I love it. But there is an empty spot on my wall.
