[Chris Saper]

Dear Sharon,

The ring of truth in your post is extraordinary. I think that every portrait painter has in his or her history a "but..." and afterward a litany of excuses as to why the portrait fails: " The client insisted..." ; "The only photo I had was..." , "I really needed the money..."etc. I have the same history, and like many of you, I'd like to go collect a lot of those pieces and do them over.

The only path to excellence is the one under your control. Each of us can preserve the potential for excellent work, but none of us can do so with substandard elements along the way ( ie, poor photo reference, poor design or a variety of other fatal flaws [at least Hamlet wasn't trying to paint]). My thought on the matter is that every painting should move the potential point of failure from the beginning to the end. I have screwed up more paintings than I care to count.Now, I think, if I will have a failed painting, better it be at 11:59 than right out of the chute. Because if I can almost make it this time, I can definitely make it the next. It's about optimism, and there's no way to get that, except by putting in the work..