"My Next One Will Be Great"

work in progress untitled

colored pencil 8x10

     I am really enjoying working on this colored pencil piece. I think it's going pretty well, but it is taking me forever, and I am not a very patient person :) The watercolor on the other hand is not. Sometimes I look at it and I think "It's ok, it's coming along. I see promise." And then other times I look at it and want to shove it under my bed where it can never be seen or tear it up into little, tiny pieces and set them on fire. I am just not feeling it, and I have to feel it or else it just doesn't work. I painted it specifically for a UWS show this Saturday that was on my list of goals for this year, but it's just not making it. So feeling frustrated, kind of a lot. Not that I want to dwell on negativity, but it's a little discouraging when you start a piece with a vision in your head of how it's going to look and then you paint it and. . . . Nothing. You have no idea how to fix this mess you got yourself in. Ever felt like that? I hate it, I feel like that way too much. Not just about painting but other things too.

    So what I do when I feel like that is pull out my notebook that's filled with quotes by artists and authors that I admire and flip through it until I find something that speaks to me. And I always do it never fails. Hopefully you like quotes or you will find this blog very boring :) Today I found this by John-Seerey Lester an awesome wildlife artist:
     "When people ask me which of my paintings is my favorite, my usual answer is 'my next.' If we as artists achieved exactly what we wanted each time we would never progress. Don't be despondent. Always think positively. 'My next one will be great.'"
     That is what I'm telling myself today. I'm putting "Peek" aside for now, I'll probably come back to it later, but for now I'm going to keep working on my colored pencil piece and start something else in watercolor. I have one I've been wanting to start for a while. But I need to find something else for this weekends show, I'll have to go through my stuff and see what will work. I am making that goal, you hear me? Hunting it down with an elephant gun (that was for you Maggie if by some chance you are reading this:))
     Here is one of my favorite paintings I did last year.  It's not my "next" Mr. Lester,but I'm still working on that. I just looked at it again the other day and well, I just really like it. It's my boy, that's why.

"Far Away"

watercolor 10x14

     So, what do you do when what you're working on just doesn't seem to be "working?" I love to hear tips about perseverance :)