Painting: Expectations vs. Reality

Making art is more than you think! It takes time, thinking, planning, choosing the right colors and brushes, turning ideas into images, etc. Sometimes those ideas don’t come out the way you expected it to because it also depends on your skill level. 

I’m a beginner artist who strives to make painting a full-time job, but sometimes I get stuck making something look the way I wanted to look on canvas! For example, painting light rays. It looks easier than it seems, but it’s harder than you think! It requires a square brush and I don’t have all of my tools ready. To get those perfect light rays requires moving the watered-down paint a certain way; you have to move your hand quickly when you paint this subject.

1. You, Will, Want To Make Changes Into The Finished Piece.

When you feel confident that you’re done, the next day, you might feel the need to add more to it or make changes. It’s important to give yourself a deadline to tell yourself that it’s finished. It’s not good to stress over some small details especially if you can’t achieve it right away. You can always move on, finish the artwork and practice making it better on the next piece.

2. Sometimes Ideas Might Not Come.

For me, I don’t have much trouble getting an idea for my new painting; I already have a collection of images in my head that I want to paint. Oftentimes, many images are hard to transfer to canvas.

For someone else, their inspiration comes from their surroundings or the place they live. An artist would choose to paint water often because she lives in a setting that has beaches or oceans. Her setting would inspire her to paint a girl floating in the water or a girl swimming in the ocean.

3. Artists Don’t Create Many Pieces At Once.

Making art takes a lot of time, patience, creativity and attention to detail. In reality, you won’t make more than one painting per week. Or sometimes you make two paintings per week. It really all depends if the ideas have come to you. It also depends if you feel the motivation.

As a first time artist, there are some things that are difficult to paint. When I can’t paint the way I expect myself to, I stop working on painting that particular thing. It’s best to watch tutorials instead.

For artists, how does painting make you feel? How do you overcome an obstacle?