More than three decades ago I was working on this still life study. It was one of those works which does not gel immediately and therefore it required a more calculated approach. I did set up the still life and sketched from reality, the way a “proper” artist would; it had a good start. This was done in oil and I had just started tackling painting with oils. However, I was a self-taught “oil painter” so that could have added to my hesitant stance. I allowed the painting to dry completely and then I forgot about it, to be honest.
When one is engrossed in one’s private arty battle, one does not imagine that an outsider or a friend would arrive one day and provide the answers or perspectives one needs to complete the (difficult) art work. Let me tell you about how this painting went from “forgotten” to “memorable” with the help of another.
I was still at teachers’ college and students from another city came to visit our religious society. I took a friend from the visiting group, who was an art student, to my hostel room and I showed him the art works I had been working on and then I pulled out the problematic still life. He looked at it and told me without hesitation that I needed to block out a few items and that I had to simplify some parts because I was trying to say too much. I decided to follow his advice and the painting turned out to be something I felt I could live with – or even be proud of.
Let us embrace the fact that we may often need an “objective” pair of eyes and that our friends and colleagues – who are not knotted into the visual “problem” – could actually have a much better perspective regarding the possibilities that we should consider. It is not always easy to admit that we don’t know what to do, but if we can admit our feelings of “inadequacy” occasionally, we may be surprised by the end result we may see. (This painting I still have in my possession and I will not be able to part with it.)
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