"90 on the last 10" by Lesley Spanos. 9 x 12" acrylic and oil on Raymar panel. ©Copyright Lesley Spanos 2010, all rights reserved. Reference material kindly provided by A Day Not Wasted.
Is it just me, or do other artists spend 90% of their studio time working on the last 10% of the painting? If I painted for ten hours, the piece would look almost finished after one hour. I could slap it into a frame and most people wouldn’t notice it wasn’t “finished.” They might even admire my bold approach and my loose and casual brushstrokes.
Ten minutes in and having fun. Love that lemon!
At thirty minutes. "Hey, this is EASY! Even the metal parts."
One hour into the painting. "Cool. Another thirty minutes on this, then I can get some yard work done and still have time to relax."
The yard work didn’t happen, nor did the open beer in the back yard while listening to Indy 500 cars buzz by at the distant Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (When the wind is right they sound like a swarm of dive-bombing wasps from my house. Locally they black out the race on TV to boost attendance, so we can’t watch it live on TV like the rest of the country.)
Nope, I spent another nine hours on my feet working on the painting, my artist’s insecurity constantly pushing me into fixing “problems” and finessing little details that may or may not enhance the finished work.
In other words, wasted time. Most of that time was spent on the two roses in the upper left. Yes, the roses were a tiny bit better in the end, but not four-hours-on-a-holiday-weekend better:
Finished painting at ten hours.
I don’t know why roses are so hard for me. When I look at the structure of a rose blossom my brain scrambles the signal and I paint the visual equivalent of gibberish. It’s like I’m looking at it but not seeing it. I was using acrylics but finally had to break out the oils so I’d have more blending time. I’ll still probably go back when the paint is dry and add a glaze over the rose on the right to knock it back into the shadows more.
Ironically, this was painted for the A Day Not Wasted May challenge. Lee provided artists with a well-planned and executed reference photo. (See how he shot it here.) Lee invited us to use just parts of his extensive still life setup, and it seems most of us zeroed on in the same composition using the apple, lemon, and jug. My original square composition cut out the dreaded roses, but then I noticed that several people had already done that one, so I went rectangular and added the roses to the top.
In spite of all my whining, a day is not wasted if a lesson is learned. So once again I’m reminded to STOP FUSSING WITH THE PAINT. Overworking the paint is my biggest sin. I need to learn to lay the paint, leave it, and go have a beer.
Lesley Spanos
Lesley Spanos is a painter working in Indiana, USA.Translator
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An age old question….”When do I stop painting?” Or…”Are we there yet?”
The extra time really clarified and zeroed in! Greater impact. I like it!
Good job at rearranging the elements for a great composition.
Your finished painting is marvelous. But I agree with you there is such a dilemma to know when a painting is done, I often wish the paper came with a pop up button like a turkey to tell us when it is done.
Right so of all the ADNW participants, yours is the best. I love the razor-sharp detail. And the depth. (Wow!)
Not all paintings are supposed to be “painterly” – or in other words, loose. Spending those nine hours improved the painting I think. It gave the painting more highlights and richness. I know sometimes we spend waaaay too much time and little to show for it. But we’re learning that whole time, so I don’t consider it wasted time. And your roses are superb. You’re drawing skills are far more advanced than mine.
Ever considered a “subscribe to comments” plugin?
Your painting is a success;and I can notice that I am not the only one having spending about 10 years on this picture!
You were brave enough to paint the roses and the tissue, congratulations, Lesley!
Beautiful work — the copper pot is pristeen.
Roses are very difficult –it’s so easy to get lost in the petals.
Dean, on this Memorial Day your comment reminds me of vacation trips when I was a kid, drawing in the back of the car. “Are we there yet?” leads to “I need to pee!” So maybe I should stop painting when I have to pee.
Debbie, LOL at the image of the painting timer! That mental image would make a great cartoon.
Martyn, good idea about the plugin. I’ve installed one. For me, loose alla prima is my desire and goal. I enjoy looking at other people’s paintings, loose or detailed, but my painting time is very limited so I have to do it all in one sitting, usually on a weekend. I don’t have the patience to come back to the same painting week after week. I just want to get it done and move on to the next one. Lack of patience, I guess.
Sylviane, I thought this one would never end.
Can’t wait to see what Lee has in store for us next month.
Bunny, thank you very much. “Pristine” is such a nice compliment.
Wow we really like the emoticons, don’t we?
I’m going to start doing a lot more alla prima plein air sketches. They just looks so good, so real, so life-like. I know what you mean Lesley, coming back to the same painting time after time gets really annoying. We all like to be done. I guess it’s impatient of us in a way, though if it keeps us from overworking stuff, that’s a good thing.
Yeah I like the plugin you’re using. It’s what I used before I changed to Disqus. (I don’t recommend Disqus because it won’t import pre-existing comments. In my case I was only losing a handful.)
Very nice shadow play, juicy colors and pleasant composition, good job Lesley.
Hi Leslie, you deserve that beer, this looks great!