YUPO BUT NOT PIGEONS THIS TIME

This painting of crows was done maybe eight years ago and was in the very first post last October of this blog. Compared to the pigeons in my most recent post, this painting has much more energy and unpredictabilty in it, and I like it much better.

That pigeon painting was nearing completion when frustration took up residence. I realized that I'd settled for doing what I know how to do instead of braving the challenge of painting those pigeons with daring. I'd 'chickened' out and made them realistic to avoid failure - and now they are fairly boring. I do like the leaves, though.

It's easier to do what we already can do well than to step out and try new ways of creating. It's certainly much more comfortable to paint like I know I can, but the results are almost always less than exciting.

I'd originally painted these crows in a similar, predictable manner, with some pathetic looking cornstalks in rows behind them. I'd gone to the sink to spray all the paint off of the YUPO, and when I began spraying off the cornstalks, the paint on the crows started to wash off in a very cool way. Even as I let the water run off the YUPO paper, I realized that this could be a good thing. A mistake would become an asset.

But when doing the pigeon painting this past week, I was overly cautious, fearing failure, trying to be in total control, thinking about what all I could do with the finished painting - all things that spell disaster for a creative experience for me.

It's time to start a new painting. I still wonder if there's any hope for the pigeons the way they are? Can I make it playful? What could I do to create a better picture? Pour some fluid acrylics over the whole painting and ??? Use them in a collage? Make a mosiac? We'll see.

The lesson learned is that we all must continually push forward into unknown territory to find new ways of hopefully making some good art. We can't rest on our laurels, at least not for long.

"CAWS FOR ALARM" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 40 x 26" COLLECTED