When Your Idea Exceeds Your Skillset?

[Iain]

Yip. That is what I have thought for you. Maybe you are. I am now, but I spent twenty-thirty years wanting to do what I did not want to do. Don't do that people. Obviously.

 

[john]

When I feel like that, I know it's more a matter of patience than skill. It might be a bit of skill. I don't usually imagine much realism, but when I want to add bits of realism, which I sometimes do, it's a matter of taking the time. It's all time and patience. I feel like, if I want to add a realistic brain, or a kitchen sink--or an animal or human extremity (which are the hardest for me), or a building (pain in the ass!), then I just need a reference. I know I can do it if I have some kind of reference. I can not draw realism out of my head; I think few people can.

Yeah I agree. With patience, will and effort, we can do things that surprise us.

This painting stuff is fun partly because it's a challenge. It's like Everest. Only better.

 

[Marc]

.."There is no elevator to success, everyone must take the stairs."

Unless Daddy owns the company.

 

[16ga]

All of my ideas exceed my skill. I just try it anyway and see how badly it turns out.
I used to try to do some studies first but then discovered that I end up never get around to the real piece that way.

 

[john]

Unless Daddy owns the company.

A success requires a thing to overcome. The son of the company owner rarely feels the pride of the father. A given thing is cheaply valued.

 

[Lazarus]

Oh yeah. I have a photo that I want to paint that's a bit like this Renoir

I want to paint it like Renoir would hahahahhaha Guess what, I am not Renoir

The closer i could go with Renoir. this took me abot an hour and was one of the fastest paining i hae made. surely you can done this with any scene.

 

[Terri]

Do you guys know that feeling when you get an idea for a piece that you love but you don't quite have the necessary skill set to execute it properly?

This basically describes everything I've done since I picked up my first oil pastels. But with some paintings, the skill set seemed to be just about enough. I rarely just abandon a painting, I try to slog through to see if I can "get there." Most of the time, I should not have done that. So I have ended up with an impressive stack of icky junk, though it does help to look back at it so I can at least measure progress.

I seem to do better when I take the time to sketch things out first. If I think my sketch is successful, I feel I have a good head start.

I could fill a thread full of my icky stuff that could make your eyes bleed, but I do try to be nice around here.

 

[AES]

The closer i could go with Renoir. this took me abot an hour and was one of the fastest paining i hae made. surely you can done this with any scene.

View attachment 14298

This is GOOD.
I keep looking around for where you zoomed in on the top pic.

 

[AES]

I could fill a thread full of my icky stuff that could make your eyes bleed, but I do try to be nice around here.

Lol maybe we need an Ugly thread: however bad you think you are, there's always someone who's worse than you.

 

[john]

The closer i could go with Renoir. this took me abot an hour and was one of the fastest paining i hae made. surely you can done this with any scene.

View attachment 14298

Yeah, like AES said, this is really good. I don't think I could do that. Certainly not with my current skills.

But thanks for the encouragement. Supposedly Renoir did that painting in one sitting plein air.

 

[Hermes2020]

It happens to me when a concept for a new sculpture pops into my head, especially if it has some new technical aspect. I must admit I take deep pleasure in doing the research to solve the problem and trying out new things. Then, when I get it right, another thing that makes me happy is explaining to the world how I did it.

 

[Hawkmoth]

I aim to do the same, in focusing on the area in need of improvement. Problem with me is I rarely finish my second attempts because when the novelty of the idea fades, I lose interest in the project altogether. It's definitely something I need to work on.

I'm the same. I often start pictures which never get finished. If I leave it half-finished for more than a couple of days (first or second attempt, makes no difference) there's a high chance I will completely lose interest.

I've given up feeling bad about it or forcing myself to finish it. If it's been sitting there for ages and I have no enthusiasm for finishing it, I just abandon it and do something I'm excited about right now. I use water media (or pencils) on paper and I work small, so there's barely any waste. I use the back of abandoned pictures for sketches and testing colours.

 

[Maybenartist]

Everything is easier in theory. However, I was once told, you can go as far as your vision will take you.

 

[Arnie]

.... is that if I don't move quickly enough on a project, it loses its novelty and I grow bored, and often abandon it. It's hard for me to maintain enthusiasm for an idea over an extended period of time, and I know that's negatively affecting my work.

I recognise that problem too. I find restarting a painting after any break can be hard, and get harder the longer time has passed. I can look at a painting for ages but never actually get any paint out and do any painting and leave it for another day. However I noticed 2 secs after starting I'm back where I was. So cutting out the thinking can help me (sometimes) - I just squeeze out some paint and apply it almost randomly - problem solved painting resumed.
A good topic for conversation - loads of interesting comments

 

[Arnie]

Oh yeah. I have a photo that I want to paint that's a bit like this Renoir ......

I had similar thoughts of Renoir's The Boating Party hanging in my parents home since the 60's. I often remember looking at it as a child, indeed I was looking at it only recently. There were also watercolour's by Ulrick Walmsley in my Nanas house that interested/stimulated me in my painting.

 

[ntl]

My inspiration, in the book I carried for years was Thomas Hill's Bridal Veil Falls In Yosemite https://www.thomas-hill.org/Bridal-Veil-Falls-Yosemite.html . I finally had the courage, and I hoped, the skill, to make a reasonable copy of it a few years ago. And I did, and am very pleased with it.
A second inspiration was one of Carl Weber's pieces. I started to make a same size copy about 2 years ago, after making a few smaller ones. Then I became ill, lost energy, and couldn't work on it anymore. However, as my energy level increases, my interest in getting it out to finish grows. In the meantime, I am learning new things...

 

[Bartc]

Jessie, I suspect we all know the feeling of disappointment when our work doesn't quite reflect our vision. I have two pieces of counsel for you, which you can take or leave:
1) Don't be hard on yourself. Even the best artists are still learning.
2) Step away from the painting for a few weeks or months, then look at it again. I'll bet then you will see more that you do value in your creation than when it's freshly painted.

And be open to the possibility that someone else might find your work intriguing and inspiring, because they have no internalized vision of your intention, rather they come to your artwork fresh from preconceptions.

 

[Bartc]

I aim to do the same, in focusing on the area in need of improvement. Problem with me is I rarely finish my second attempts because when the novelty of the idea fades, I lose interest in the project altogether. It's definitely something I need to work on!

I can relate to that. My work has almost always been alla prima. Start and finish in one shot. And I tend to avoid reworking anything, because my experience has been that I rarely improve on what is there, whether what is there is good or not. I cannot say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, it's just my thing. Probably would be a good thing if I had the patience and interest in trying the same scene again; certainly would be a learning experience.

Marla Bagetta has a series she's done of 100 versions of the same basic composition (all pastels, but the medium is not the point.) The versions change slightly, the colors change markedly, as one would have to in order to create 100 of the same uncomplicated composition. She's a trained and highly skilled artist, former illustrator, and paints daily in a variety of media. She is possessed of a discipline I lack and she expresses joy at painting, whether she likes the end result or not. I'm envious, but know that we are not all built like that.

 

[stlukesguild]

I think an artist needs to be able to recognize and be honest with themselves as to where their strengths and weaknesses are. We can then choose to cultivate our strengths and/or do what is necessary to improve our weak areas if therein lies something of importance to you as an artist. Back in art school, I had illusions of becoming a sculptor. I soon realized that I did not think well in terms of 3-dimensions. Even as a painter, I have come to recognize that my strength does not lie in creating the illusion of great depth. I think far more in terms of 2-dimensional composition, line, flat shapes, patterns, and 2-D design. I also found that I tend to be drawn to art that employs a similar approach: Japanese prints and painting, Early Italian Renaissance painting, Bonnard, Gauguin, Matisse, Art Nouveau, Klimt, Schiele, Max Beckmann, Pop Art, illustration, posters, Kelly Beeman, Kaethe Butcher, Yasunari Ikenaga, etc...

 

[Artyczar]

I hear ya. I took a ceramics class in my late 30s and I hated it because I was just not great at it. I wished I could have tried to throw some pots though, but the teacher had a strict policy that didn't allow "women" to use the wheel and did not accept me as not really a woman, though he did favor me as an artist in general. Didn't matter though. I still would have liked to see if I had any skill in that area.

In any case, I didn't like having clay on my hands, so it was a moot point.

When I have to render realism-type work, I have to challenge my skills a bit because I don't usually make work like that, mostly because I don't want to, but sometimes I do, depending on how I want a piece to look like. It might need some elements of illustrative things in it. I'll have to attempt to draw it several times to get it right, but that's okay because that's how I sharpen some of those skills.

Soon I want to make a painting that includes a weird house/shack with odd angles and I'm even a little nervous about how I'll do, but all I can do is my best.