Just Give It Up, Already!

I believe it’s important for us to try many different things in art. Since I began my journey of discovery, I’ve explored many different media and have tried different subjects. I feel I’ve benefited from every attempt I’ve made at drawing and painting.

Still, I think there are times when we must accept the fact that we’re not able to do a particular thing — at least not at that particular time — and move on to something else. I’m been stuck in a difficult rut, you see, and I haven’t been able to dig myself out. A thought that comes to mind is that oft-repeated definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 

What I’ve been working on are repeated attempts to create a personal version of May Morning, a watercolor by Aubrey Phillips.

May Morning – Watercolor by Aubrey Phillips

Correct me if I’m wrong — I probably am — but to me, this doesn’t look like an exceptionally difficult painting. Maybe part of my problem is that I didn’t really study the painting before attempting my own version, and most likely part of my problem was that in some ways I feel as though I’ve painted this scene time and time before.

Consider how similar this is to one of my very first watercolors, painted back in 2016.

Woodland Scene — Watercolor painted in March 2016

Two years ago, during one of my plein air attempts at our city park, I used oils to paint a very similar scene.

Looking Toward the Lake — Oil painted in June 2018

Neither painting is very good, and I’d like to think that I could do better today, both with oil and with watercolor. That would be a lie, however, because over the last week I have repeatedly tried! Each successive attempt I’ve made seems to be worse.

Of course, I began by attempting to follow along with the guidance Aubrey Phillips gives in Watercolour Painting with Aubrey Phillips, the book I’m using as the basis of my 100-Day Creative Art Adventure. The results were not good, but being determined to complete a painting, I tried again. And again.

I was hoping that possibly “third time’s charm” might prove to be true. It wasn’t. The more I tried, the worse my paintings became.

At this point, I’ve lost track of the order in which these paintings were done, but just take a look at all these awful paintings!

I’ve tried a lot of different methods and approaches. More water. Less water. Different color mixes. Different watercolor paper. The more I tried painting this deceptively simple scene, the worse my paintings became.

Finally, I decided that “enough is enough,” and in this case, it’s more than enough. I should have pushed this project aside sooner rather than later and moved on to new adventures in my 100-Day Creative Art project.

This is one instance in which persistence did not pay off. I grew more and more frustrated with each attempt, which meant less and less likelihood of producing good results.

Later — much later — it will be fun to go back, look at these paintings again, and remember how I struggled with this woodland scene. Maybe later — much, much later — I’ll try painting it again.

But for now, thankfully, I’m just going to accept the fact that I can’t paint this quiet little scene of a spring morning in the woods. I’m going to give it up and go on to other paintings. About time, huh?