Saturday, April 9, 2016

Perseverance

"Times Square Messenger"  24x24" Acrylic


The all-time worst piece of advice I ever got from a teacher was that at all stages of the painting it must look good. That crazy idea stuck with me for years and so many paintings were trashed before they ever had a chance to develop.  There are ugly stages - especially the start (see below). I'm glad I eventually learned to persevere thru "the uglies" or I'd have given up on art years ago. That being said there are those paintings that never quite graduate out of the ugly stage. But everytime I wrestle with one of those stubborn pieces I learn something new. And if theres one thing in life I'm completely sure of, theres always more to learn!

This morning I saw a facebook video by a writer who described the struggles of growing into the artist you aspire to be. I shared it on my facebook page, Patti MollicaArt.  It's for real.

Here's the video.   Every artist struggles, it's how we grow. 



14 comments:

Anne said...

What crazy advice! Of course one has to paint their way out of the ugly stages....sort of like swimming for shore! Glad you painted though that idea!

Patti Mollica said...

yes and crazier for me to believe that! thanks Anne!

Unknown said...

Interesting article by Coates. He has written some very insightful articles about other aspects of his life too. I do agree that every piece of artwork does go through a very ugly stage(I've got many like that just waiting)before it becomes something one can live with. I enjoy your paintings and enjoy seeing how you're changing in your painting approach. Keep going...

Patti Mollica said...

Thanks very much, Betty! Yes, i get bored painting in the same style all the time, experimentation is fun

JanettMarie said...

I've heard that crazy advice before too (all stages must look good), after experimenting with that advice, yes, there is definitely an ugly duckling stage. Many great surprises have come from the looser to winners!
Patti Mollica you rock!!

Patti Mollica said...

Hey JanettMarie - right back at you! You're right - and I've got plenty of losers to mess with - i save everything. Hope alls well w/you:-)

Jim Marven said...

Are there any house painters that can advise me?
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Unknown said...
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Radhika Sharma said...
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Katherine Hambley said...

Do you have a pile of "bad art" that never graduated to the good pile? I do. It seems to be piling up and every now and then I'll go through a "bad art purge" and salvage what I can and destroy or discard the rest. I'd rather be painting and doing art but it helps to take a time out and organize and "cleanse" my studio of all the bad stuff. How many bad ones did you have before you started being successful?

Patti Mollica said...

katherine, i'm still doing my share of "bad stuff" and analyzing the bad stuff - where i was, where i am now (its all so relative). i'm never satisfied with where i'm at - always trying to go to more interesting (to me) places. so bad art is all the stuff I try that stretches my boundaries and helps me expand. its a good thing... to keep experimenting, I stick my neck out and fail, but learn new things everytime!

Terrance McDaniel said...
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James Brown said...
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