Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Showstopper - SOLD, and perceived failure

Showstopper sold
5" x 7" watercolor and gouache


This painting did not turn out the way I wanted it to. I painted the horse first, which I was pretty happy with, and then painted the background. This my friends, was not a very smart plan.

I often leave the background until the very end, especially when working on a portrait, because I don't want to risk dark colors flooding into the glowing skin tones I've worked so hard to achieve. But, alas, twas not a good idea in this case. 

Because I didn't plan how I wanted the background to look. I just kinda thought I would splash some colors in there, make it all fresh and nice looking, and voila! Instant beautiful background!

Yeah. . . didn't work out like that. The wash I laid down was lackluster and just the WRONG color. It looked like a horse from Hades. Seriously, it did.  

Which ticked me off because I was so happy with how I painted the horse.

So I thought about what, if anything, I could do to save the painting.

Then I remembered that I had seen watercolor artist Jean Pederson use gouache on some of her backgrounds to give them a chunky oil-type look (which, ahem, she does intentionally, not as a rescue effort).

So I thought to myself, what do I have to lose?

It was a scary thing to put down that opaque gouache and totally obliterate the transparent watercolor background, even as ugly as it was. But I told myself to be brave and just go for it.

And. . . Huzzah! I LOVED the results. The horse is purely watercolor, but the background is mostly gouache that I tinted with some watercolors. I think I'm going to be using this technique again, intentionally this time.

So, even though originally I thought I had failed, really I didn't. I just had to change the way I was looking at it. And that made all the difference. Sometimes when we think we fail, it's really us just not seeing the new opportunity that's opened up. A new chance to push ourselves in a way we wouldn't have otherwise. 

"If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. " ~ Flavia Weedn

Anybody want to share a failure turned success story? I'd love to hear it. :)  

*Special thanks to Sarah Inskip of Dantona Stud, fellow horse enthusiast, artist, and awesome photographer, for letting me use her photo of this gorgeous horse. Thanks Sarah!  


19 comments:

  1. Love it!! What a save! :)

    LOL, I have one colored pencil illo that my kiddo scribbled over when I wasn't looking. I managed to salvage parts of it and ended up with a mixed media collage... with great results! :) Better than it would have been had my baby not scribbled over it.

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  2. I'm too busy staring at that beautiful glossy coat to notice anything else! It's great that you managed to rescue it. One of the bloggers I follow often just washes her failed paintings off under a tap. Then she lets it dry and is left with just a hint of the original painting. Then, she does a completely new painting over the top, which gives an amazing effect of a ghostly figure or whatever underneath! It's very clever! If I shared my failures with you I would be here all day, so I will spare you, lol! ;0)

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  3. I can see why you loved that horse. It's beautiful and well done.

    But I really appreciate your post the most today, because you touch on a subject that all artists (and non artists) have to deal will. Your message came through clear and accurate!

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  4. When I saw it first I thought oh wow.. Nice use it of opaque colors for background. I thought it was a great idea. So finally it was a small journey that you undertook to reach where you have reached. And the journey was that of a little courage and a little luck. So you see it is important to undertake that journey. :)

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  5. I'm glad you were able to rescue your lovely painting. Failures? Me? Heaven forbid. Last big one that I can remember is a Belsnickle I put in the oven to dry and since it was so tall I laid it on it's side only to have it flatten. I managed to slavage it by running water through it and trying to force it back into shape. I wasn't able to get it back into it's original shape but the new shape turned out even better.

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  6. Nicely done, Crystal (both the painting and the "salvage operation", as I like to call them)!

    I'd have never known when I first saw your painting of this fetching Welsh Cob was at any point a failure; the gouache worked beautifully.

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  7. I like the gouache background very much! So clever of you to think of that!

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  8. Wonderful save, Crystal. What's nice about a failed watercolor is that we can always section it off and cut it up as ACEO's to salvage portions of it. I wish I had thought of that when I wrecked my Ice Water Bottle painting; I shredded it and tossed it out before that brilliant idea came to mind. I will know better next time.

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  9. Absolutely gorgeous! Love the save!

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  10. wow!! in reading i thought you weren't pleased with this background!! it's STUNNING!! and the horse is...well i gasped when i saw it and that says it all. just beyond beautiful crystal.

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  11. Good save, Crystal! The horse's coat is so beautifully done, it would have been such a shame to lose that. BRAVO!

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  12. Love the painting as well as the saved background, and love your motivational posts! I look forward to your next one!

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  13. Beautiful,Crystal! Love the use of your new technique, I'm sure it will manifest itself into other of your paintings. Horse from Hades, he he he. Nice save!

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  14. I LOVE this...I capitalized to accentuate how much I love it! :-)

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  15. Love the painting results and that quote. Way to go, Crystal.

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  16. Love that quote -perfect pairing for your painting!!! I am well versed in painting over and reworking by first attempts :) I like the freedom it offers when I work on a failed or abandoned piece!I feel that is when I have made by best discoveries as an artist:)

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  17. What a great post really appreciate your sharing. And of course the finished product is beautiful, love that horse!

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  18. Beautiful painting, great color harmony! --Worth all the effort for sure!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment they really do mean so much to me! Because not all bloggers have their email enabled so I can reply directly through email I will try to reply here in the comments. If I don't please forgive me, life must have been hectic that day! :)) Huzzah!!

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