When should you go back to an artwork and keep working on it and when should you leave well enough alone?
One of the hardest things for an artist is to decide when a artwork is finished, or if a sense of it not being quite there exists, to work out what it needs to bring it across the line? Another challenge is whether or not to go back to a work that you were pretty happy with and make changes? Or to know when to paint over an existing good work and start fresh.
I am dealing with many of these issues at the moment.
As a trained artist who has had to listen to criticism and feedback from teachers and peers on a regular basis, I think you develop a keen sense of when a painting or sculpture etc is absolutely firing. But what to do about the ones that are good, possibly very good – but just not grabbing you in the gut in the same way, is really difficult. Is it OK to have absolute favourites and other’s that you just like, or does this mean that the other work is not good enough and you need to keep going? Is it really possible and indeed achievable that you will love everything that you do?
I have painted over several pretty good paintings this year, and I think some of the new works that resulted are my best ever. But other paintings that I thought in the planning would be rippers are just not hitting the mark as I had hoped they would. And I am struggling with knowing where to take them, or if I should just start again. I have also gone back to a few artworks that I once really liked and have made changes. Again, knowing whether this is the right thing to do or not is proving quite challenging.
I read about a local artist recently who said that she always hangs her new work in her house after she has finished. If after a few weeks she feels she loves it, then it can be sold, if not, it goes back out to the studio for more work. I think this is good advice because considered reflection often provides the answer for many of our dilemmas. I think it was ex Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating who suggested that all leaders needed to build time in their diary – at least one day a week, to reflect on issues and challenge your thinking. History is showing him to have been one of most visionary and accomplished of our leaders. Since his departure, the cult of busy-ness seems to have taken over our society, with major decisions often apparently taken on the run. Think of Julia Gillard’s disastrous decision to appoint a peoples assembly to find a consensus on climate change action. Less rush and more consideration could not surely have resulted in that decision being made.
So back to the art. What do you think? If I am not 100% happy with a painting I am working on, should I keep going? Especially knowing that overworking it can often create more issues than you had to begin with. Is it crazy to expect to love all your work equally? Do some artists never love what they produce? is it reasonable to expect that all works in a series are fully resolved to your satisfaction, or is it normal and quite acceptable that you will think that some are good, others very good and not all great? And as the artist are you really the best judge of that?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. As I continue plugging away with the challenging pieces, I’ll show you where I got to. And see whether you think I made the right decision.
