When you are working on a painting and you get to the point
where it is just not working, what in the world do you do?
Turn the painting upside-down
Turning a painting upside-down tricks the eye into seeing
what you are working on in a completely different way. All of
a sudden you will be able solve a problem that baffled you
minutes before.
Hold the painting up to a mirror
Looking at a painting in a mirror works very much the same
way as turning a painting upside-down does, only the
results are even more dramatic. The problem is even more
glaring and it is an enormous relief to see what is not
working and to be able to figure out the solution.
Stop painting
If you’ve turned a painting upside down and held it up to a
mirror and you still can’t figure out what the problem is--stop
painting. You may need to stop painting for a few minutes,
few hours, few days, months or even years. It depends on
you and it depends on the painting.
The worse thing you can do is to keep working on the
painting. It won't solve the problem, you will become
frustrated and the painting will become over-worked. It is a
really good way to ruin a work of art.
There will come a point when you will know exactly what to
do and can’t imagine why you never saw the solution before.
When I am working on a painting and I can't find a solution
to the problem, I always try to remember a phrase someone
once told me which is: "If you don’t know what to do, do
nothing." A great piece of wisdom which always seems
to work.
© Mary Baker 2005
Mary Baker is a contemporary realist painter, whose studio
is in Newburyport, Massachusetts. This New England city,
north of Boston, has been the inspiration for the artist’s
realistic oil paintings. Mary Baker is a professional artist and
has shown in New York art galleries.
You can visit Mary at her website, Mary Baker Art at marybakerart.com,
see her beautiful paintings and read her articles on
a variety of subjects including on Art, Artists and the Web. A
list of articles can be found on her Site Map and Mary's
paintings can be seen on every page of Mary Baker Art.
You can also visit Mary Baker's artist blog, Mary Baker
Art-Blog for information on art, artists, realistic art, art
promotion, art tips, painting, painters and art and the
Web--for artists and people who love the arts.
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