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.
No comments:
Post a Comment