How to create the perfect painting
Hint: don't even try
How to create the perfect painting. Don’t think. Stop worrying, fretting, striving, and trying. Try not to care either. You need that sense of the casual—the “throw it all on the canvas and somehow it works” type feeling. The shapes have to be messy. No perfect triangles. No round circles. An angular circle type form is fine. Please, no boring colors allowed. Awkward color palettes only. In fact, choose the ugliest colors you can find. Ugly colors make beautiful paintings. The composition must be slightly uneven. Absolutely no perfect balance—a little tilted, a little awkward, a little quirky. Yes, quirky is good. It’s the highest compliment. The marks should be messy. The paint uneven, thick, textured. Never flat and smooth. I want to see those brushstrokes. Everything should be slightly off but not too much. Just the perfect amount to take the painting from boring to exciting. In fact, push it a little more—no sorry, push a lot more until that piece is hitting the edge. But don’t cross the line. It’s a tricky place, right in that sweet spot of not too little but not too much. Don’t worry if you don’t get all this right away. It only takes about a thousand paintings to get there.
so excellent Shiela. I wonder if this works when setting a lovely table for a dinner party?
Thanks for all your words and insights on your paintings and painting process. It's comforting reading ideas and feelings I frustratingly struggle to express. You somehow make writing about art seem so effortless.