M.E. BAILEY ART: Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't . . . .

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Here you will find adventures in painting. . . . Victories, absolute defeats, frustrations, highs, lows, lessons learned, commentary and thoughts from me and other artists.

As an art instructor, I don't wish to hide the fact that I crash and burn often. I will always be learning. So, it all gets shown here . . .good and bad. Every painting we do counts in the learning and experience process. The failures actually are much better teachers than successes. Every piece made is a teacher. That's the fun of it: the challenge to learn.

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Monday, September 5, 2011

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't . . . .

"Sickle Rock"

watercolor 15 x 22 inches

And this was one of those times . . . .I got lost in the shapes and failed to pay attention to the contasts of light and shadow . . . .I suppose I became a little heavy handed with the darks.

But come on! Give a guy some slack! Once in a while ya just gotta slip into something that just doesn't ring the bell.

The only thing one can do in a situation like this is to step back from the easel and shout "NEXT!"

In other words, chalk it up to experience and go on to the next one. Who knows, maybe some terrific notion will pass through my head while whipping up another one and be able to come back to this piece with a different attack. Stay tuned.

8 comments:

Joyfulartist said...: Cut yourself some slack! It's beautiful, you have great darks against light and light against dark going on. It doesn't need much.; September 6, 2011 at 2:03 PM
Anonymous said...: I's great, move on...(Bruce); September 6, 2011 at 7:01 PM
Anonymous said...: You're nutz! Its a lovely T-structure and great contrasts. Sometimes you are just too close to see trees to see the wood!; September 6, 2011 at 9:29 PM
Kay said...: I hear you. But what a great exercise for a critique... you have my mind buzzing around the issues.

Lovely all the same.

BTW, I am a darks and contrast fan...; September 7, 2011 at 12:38 AM
Arti said...: You are truly inspiring, Mike.; September 7, 2011 at 5:32 AM
Sandeep Khedkar said...: very beautiful!; September 7, 2011 at 10:12 PM
Mike said...: Hi Everyone . . .thanks for the positive comments. It is best to state here that our mental image of how things should turn out is what drives us to improve. There was a time when a painting like this one would have thrilled me beyond words. But today, after reaching for ever higher standards, it seems sub-par.

While your positive comments do reach me personally, reaching or approaching that ever moving standard of excellence is my mission. I suppose all of us artists are "blessed" with such a curse. I can do much better!; September 8, 2011 at 11:34 AM
branchflower.net said...: I can see what compelled you to do a painting of this dramatic broken boulder. I could not have painted it this well. But there are some things that bother me--first, the bluish water is a distraction. Could it be a sandy creek bed? Or browner water to reduce the range of hues outside the boulder? Maybe it is just the water in back that bugs me, and could be replaced by opposing diagonals that come right up to the rock. It really bites when you do part of a painting so well but somehow miss on another part. Some subjects are just more abstract than others--you'll find a way. Set it up where you can glance at it as you walk by.; September 24, 2011 at 9:12 PM