Putting failures to work

[Chris Saper]

I suspect that I am not alone in failing to purge failed paintings from my possession.

I try now, at least twice a year, to throw away at least ten pieces. (Still doesn't come close to eliminating my fire hazard.)

But there's good reason to keep a few failures around. Keep at least one in every medium, or one each in completely different ilks. Decide they are waste products, not yet disposed of.

Then try experiments. Gold leaf. Varnish. Glazes. Work in strips or squares, and use a SHARPIE to write note RIGHT on them to describe just what you're doing. Eventually they will resemble matboard scraps, and you have left any misplaced emotional investment far behind. If they are worth keeping (they no doubt have much better instructional value than any other imaginable value), so much the better. If not, they have to go to the dump. And don't even think about placing them gingerly upon the top of the garbage. (Too good to REALLY throw out?) Decimate them. Don't let anyone even think about salvaging them. (If you are a parent, you must do this when the kids are far away. But you can get rid of their old stuff at the same time.)

[Mike McCarty]

Decimate them

This is an attempt at a self portrait. I like the way the light enters the portrait and then quickly exits to the back of the chair.

[Mari DeRuntz]

Then try experiments. Gold leaf. Varnish. Glazes. Work in strips or squares, and use a SHARPIE to write note RIGHT on them to describe just what you're doing. Eventually they will resemble matboard scraps, and you have left any misplaced emotional investment far behind.

Great suggestion. Take off the emotional yoke and turn the thing into your sketchbook.

Matter of fact, I've got some color charts to do; I'll probably gesso the backs of some and grid them off for the studies.

Trash day sounds good, too.

Hmmm, very self-effacive of you, Mike.

[Steven Sweeney]

Great trompe l'oeil work, Mike. Actually looks like a mutilated canvas. This is a keeper.

[Jeanine Jackson]

Dear Chris:

This thread is so timely. Just today I decided to practice painting knife techniques on some old clonkers. I shall post any successfully recycled works in the forum. The rest will get torn from their stretchers and tossed.

Mike, try putting your open-air portrait up against a window. The effect is enlightening! It makes for a terrific photograph - especially in black and white. How do I know this? That's a story to tell over a glass of Gallo Nero Chianti.

Thanks for posting this, Chris!

[Michele Rushworth]

Mike, send a slide of your portrait to the MOMA. I bet they'll find a critic to write about the deep emotional significance of the work and offer you tens of thousands for it!