Learning reflection 1

Through out the year so far, I have identified several areas in which I need to improve my approach to my creative practice. I have learned several invaluable lessons through out the year, including honing in on my painting, masking, blending and drawing skills, however in doing these experiments I have become aware of some of the limitations I harbour as an artist and areas in which I can improve.

The first area that I think I could work on is time management. As we near the finalisation of the final term of third year, I wish I was further along in the creation of all the paintings I've started. I think I should have started the painting process a lot sooner into the term instead of letting fear stunt my drive. In addition to this, I would like to have a better relationship with the consistency of my involvement in my creative practice. I appear to work in intense ebbs and flows and peaks and troughs of creativity and productivity, meaning sometimes I am inconsistent with my work, resulting in a turbulence of engagement which can breed bad results due to lack of familiarity with your craft. 

In order to overcome both of these time related issues, I think it would be helpful to allocate certain hours through out the week to painting, to ensure I'm working at it consistently and building up a relationship with the piece and the creative process, rather than employing an intense 'all or nothing' approach to my work.

Painting experiments

This term I wanted to ensure that I was taking more risks with my work and becoming more relaxed with the creative process. In the past I have struggled with stifling perfectionism that manifests itself in my inability to progress a painting to the next stage once I've done something in the piece that I like and am therefore terrified to ruin. A good example of this is a paint pour I made in second year with the intention of painting a narrative scene/ figures over the top. The background colours and the pour itself where only ever painted on the canvas to act as a background for a more detailed and focused foreground scene. 

Unfortunately, because I was so happy with the result of the background, I didn't add anything else or paint anything more onto the canvas for months and months, due to the fear of ruining it by painting something badly over the top. To challenge myself, I painted a very simple silhouette underpainting in the foreground which I will develop into a nude red figure that is dowsed in a ray of light peering into the scene from a nearby window. 

It was nerve wracking to commit to painting over the top of a background I was so happy with visually, but now that I have, I'm really excited to see how the piece develops into a fully formed narrative scene. It was really important to me to challenge myself in this way as I have identified this perfectionism/ fear as one of the limitations in my creative process, the fear stops me from developing the painting even further and therefore renders me creatively stagnant; something I need to consciously overcome if I am to create the images I have planned.