“To succeed you must first improve, to improve you must first practice, to practice you must first learn, and to learn you must first fail.” – Wesley Woo

Obstacles. What is it that really prevents us from doing what we want? It’s probably not the obstacles at all but our attitude towards them. It’s how we face these obstacles that define who we are and what our art looks like.

When I look at an artist’s work, I can clearly see his/her decisions at play. There is always a pull between observation vs. imagination, and it’s this balance which determines how realistic or imaginative a painting looks. What is artist willing to sacrifice to achieve his/her artistic vision? If you are a representational artist, you will confront these decisions every day.

By painting exclusively from life, your painting will look convincing, but may lack drama; and by painting from imagination, your painting will look less realistic. At one end of the spectrum we have an artist like Jacob Collins, who primarily paints from life; Odd Nerdrum uses a combination of models and his imagination which makes his work more imaginative and metaphorical; and Eric Fischl uses photography which frees his imagery, but gives his work a less traditional feel. Will Cotton goes through a tremendous amount of effort to create his images; he works from life, using models and even baking large-scale candy creations.

How much effort are you willing to invest to achieve your vision?

I often think about how I confront my limitations. I use my daughter and family as models out of convenience. I use photos because I don’t want to rely on others. If I didn’t limit myself, I would hire models to create more literal paintings; instead, I look for metaphors within every day scenes. I admire more imaginative painting, but I find myself only wanting to paint what I see around me. The question is whether you are content or merely complacent with your process. Do you see ways to improve your procedures? If you are not attaining the desired effect in your work, what can you do differently to achieve it?

It is the obstacles that define who we are and what is important to us. But, if we are too afraid to fail and take risks, then we will not be able to succeed at reaching our fullest potential. This is as true in life as it is in art.