“There’s a fine line between worrying and problem-solving. Worrying is about letting your mind dwell on problems without a systematic approach, often leading to anxiety. Problem-solving is about applying creative strategies and mental models to specific problems.”
Anne-Laure Le Cunff, “Why we worry“
Substitute “self critique of a painting” for “worry”.
Labelling a painting as “rubbish” and then heading into the spiral of “I’m rubbish at XYZ” to “everything I do is rubbish” is all too easy. Worrying about whether you have “talent” rather than figuring out the gaps in your current skills and knowledge.
Last week, as my homework for the online painting workshop I’m doing (taught by Alan McGowan), I made two copies of a painting by Egon Schiele. No prizes for guessing which was my first attempt.
After a bit of “what were you thinking” worrying, I realised the issue was my being out of practice using oil paints not my ability to produce a reasonable copy. So I reached for fast-drying materials and tried again. The familiarity of acrylic ink and Inktense pencils meant I could focus on the copying, and produced a result I am pleased with.
Next week’s homework is applying this style to another painting by a different artist, chosen earlier on. I’m going to do that with familiar ingredients first, starting with my beloved Payne’s grey ink.