Monday Motivator: Keep Climbing

“You’re standing on a hill. You look outward over many hills and valleys and spot your goal. Then you set out downhill to reach the next hilltop. While in the valley, you cannot see your goal. Not even the hilltop in front of you. But you still climb.

Likewise for painting an idea. You set the goal, and you begin. The effort of building an image is like that downhill trek. You can bottom-out in the valley, lost in the weeds, but as you continue to climb up things get clearer until you reach the top and head out again.”

Gregory Manchess, 10 Things: What You Cannot Know, Muddy Colors 21 June 2017

One of the reasons for not destroying a painting too quickly is that a week, month, six months from now you’ll see it differently. You may still hate it, but you’ll likely be clearer about why. A year from now you can pull them out and see where you’ve been — and then decide which ‘postcards’ of the trip you really do want or need to keep.

SOLD View Across the Minch from My Studio. Diptych 120x80cm.

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