I know many creatives and many of them never finish a work. The same work is done and re-done and done again because it’s never right. There’s always something out of place, a comma, an invisible brush mark, a chord that seems not right – not perfect = imperfect! We do it again and hope it will be better next time.

And so now, this work gets put aside in the hope (read dread) the next one will be better.

What people don’t realise is, there’s no such thing as mistakes. What happens is, we get a different result from what we expect, we don’t know what to do with it.

This is often the result with watercolour, we have a vision and an eye on our goal – but something happens or we return from a cup of tea to find our painting looks different from just 10 minutes ago.

We’ve become so results driven we’re forgotten to enjoy the process, play to our medium’s strengths and just have fun playing with the paint. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t attempt specific subjects, what I’m saying is have fun along the way. Explore your paint and ask yourself “What would happen if …?” or tell yourself “I’m just going to have a play with this and see what happens!” - my favourite way to start new work! It banishes fears and performance anxiety and sets up an easier happy attitude!!

happy painting dear friends!!
​Amanda

Many of my students and fellow painters ask me "how did I get from this to that?"

When I’m out painting en plein air (or in my studio), once I have my idea and have taken a “mental snapshot”, I rarely refer back to the scene. I focus more on what my painting needs rather than creating a replica of a scene.

The same for studio painting, especially from photographs (and when on location); the scene and your photo are merely your inspiration - your idea must come first.

​The same for studio painting, especially from photographs (and when on location); the scene and your photo are merely your inspiration - your idea must come first. 

Faithfully producing a scene, en plein air or from photos suggests the painter has to find the perfect scene. Yes there are plenty of perfect scenes but can you find them when you want them? probably not - jolly annoying.

The serious painter has to make do with what is in front of them - we have to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. 

The point of this blog post is to remind ourselves to be not so precious about painting every little detail, every little nuance - paint your idea, turn away from your subject - stop looking and just paint - enjoy the process of painting the flower or the picket fence - focus on your painting!! if you have a photograph, turn it over, paint your painting and use your artist's license!!

My painting Bait & Ice (Thames NZ) has won many awards and is not very much like the scene itself. Comments from collector's all say "this is just how I remember it!"

ciao cari pittori!!