How wrong can you be?

David Dowbyhuz · 02-21-2002, 10:54 AM

My favorite "Helenism" from Helen Van Wyk was:

"You can only get 3 things wrong in a painting: the shape, the color and the tone."

Simple & elegant. Just like Helen ...

Anne Hall · 02-22-2002, 11:07 PM

I hate it when I paint something on/in a painting and then realize, DARN! it looked better before I did that, now it looks TERRIBLE. A worse moment is realizing it looks terrible ANYWAY.

Now that I know these moments can be LIMITED to color, shape and tone I will hope to have fewer of them!

Steven Sweeney · 02-23-2002, 12:10 AM

Anne, a sentiment I often shared with one of my instructors was a desire to be able to "Close" the file on a day's work -- and its missteps -- and select "Do Not Save", to return everything to where it was when you started the session. Alas, there was nothing to do but come back next time with "fresh eyes", load the palette, and have another go at it.

Taking the piece back to the stage at which things began to go amiss, and trying again, is where the real learning takes place. But don't you just hate "real learning" sometimes?