Gouache painting of eraser by Nicholas Wilton
Sometimes making my Art feels choppy. The hardest days in the studio are the ones where I go down one road before I realize I wanted another. I was mistaken. So by the end of the day, I have to come all the way back to where I started. It seems like I went nowhere. It is frustrating.
However after repeating this pattern over and over again, I see that these wrong turns, these mistakes are not only unavoidable but also essential in creating the value in my Art. In the end, they simply improve it.
In the words of Thomas Paine, “That which we may obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value.”
My Art process has demonstrated this essential truth repeatedly.
Mistakes are challenging, however they always happen. They always will. Why then do we have such a fear of making them? Why do we feel so much pressure to be always correct?
The mistakes are the very thing that creates our best Art. We need them.
Art making is the ideal teacher of this apparent truth. In fact I would say Art making for me has become mostly about trying to remain uninhibited despite the fact that the next mistake is surely just around the corner.
It is only when we no longer fear making mistakes that our true uninhibited self can come forward, can enter the room and begin to make decisions based on our intuition and authenticity. I can see in an instant when I make a brushstroke or a mark that is tentative. I can feel in my life when I am reacting out of fear. I end up doing things I don’t really care about. True desire is somewhat sacrificed.
In reaching, in stretching ones self, mistakes – missed cues, as I like to call them – are going to happen. As a result, however, they allow you to then move forward with a new understanding. A new knowledge found from going to the wrong place first. The prize, the take away, is a new found conviction, a sureness that invariably improves your Art.
It is important to understand and constantly remember this pattern. It is behind the scenes of our lives and always in play. It can be hard when all seems to be falling apart, when the road is petering out, and when we begin to get the hunch that we are actually mistaken. If the disappointment can be short lived as a result of understanding this game then we can more quickly take the next step in the right direction.
This realization that our desire, the value we are attempting to bring to the world is created from the difficulty, is actually incredibly liberating. Working and even living ones life without concern for the inevitable mistakes along the way kind of takes the pressure off. Every wrong turn invariably gives you the necessary lift to anywhere you need to go next.
I am not sure who exactly figured this all out or who set it all up but it truly is amazing. The game in the end feels rigged. It is all in our favor. There is a conspiracy of sorts working behind the scene of our Art making, our lives, to take us where we truly desire.
What has your experience been with mistakes? Those who comment below and are signed up for my newsletter will have a chance to win the original pink eraser gouache painting. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced in next week’s blog post.
In gratitude, Nicholas
38 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
Oh boy! I make mistakes all the time. They are easier and more fun made in my studio play book than on a canvas, though.It’s best when I just let go and know I can paint over it and not obsess about what my “plan” was. It’s best when I let the mistakes add to the layers. It’s terrible when I fight it and try to carry out the “plan.”
Love your name btw. I think I will just rty to be smiling fish today in the studio–yeah it sucks to have to do something according to plan–especially when you are the person making yourself do it! Lol
Wow. I’ve never thought about it like this. I usually cave in & scrap a painting when I lose my way, when it gets too difficult to see a way through. Then I end up painting something ‘safe’ and boring and end up scrapping that too.
“the value we are attempting to bring to the world is created from the difficulty,” – We know the value of sticking with important things in our lives, even when it gets difficult. We know to keep pushing through until we find a way to make it work. It seems that this is very good advice to take into the studio as well…. Thanks!
Kim–if u r stopping and bailing when u lose ur way that is the time when you need to stay–really being lost is the time your soul–your intuition kicks in–that is where your road map lies. Your intuition already knows where to go but if it is always being over ruled by a plan it never gets heard… when u get this ur work is going to dramatically shift–send me a pic of the painting that marks that departure when it happens..fun.
Hey, thanks for the reply! …And I will keep going & see what happens – and send you a pic when I get there. Thanks!!
I have one painting that I considered full of mistakes. I set it aside (time out) and later, took another look at it. I photographed it, then started cropping it in all sorts of ways. The results were amazing. This ‘mistake painting’ became the source of several new paintings and explorations. When I’m sane, I realize that, as you wisely mentioned in your post, mistakes are just bumps in the road that make the passage more interesting. When I’m not sane, I see mistakes as giant boulders that stop me. The key is to know how to get your mind back to see the boulders as bumps and then it just flows…..
The cropping thing works because the proportions are BIG relative to rectangle–there is an implied outside the canvas (cause there is right? you did make more art than u r showing) that gives the work a power –it becomes bigger in it’s sense of itself–then we like it more as it can accommodate more of us–we feel a bigger world when we look at it.
I am no stranger to mistakes. I’ve been on a journey to find a specific style, a way of painting that is uniquely me. When I try something and it fails, I release myself with all abandon and then something wonderful happens. I still have trouble making “wonderful” happen. It is elusive for sure. Lately, I’ve decided to approach things a little differently and tell myself that it is only paint and only a canvas and that I can paint something over it if that is what is needed. It helps…but not always. Reading what you’ve written today is encouraging. Thank you!
Your style—is really just you getting clear on what makes you feel joyful–more like yourself when you are doing it–just start really paying attention to how it feels as you make marks–go where you feel a yes–that is it-the rest will take care of itself–supe rfun stage u r in–enjoy every moment of it..
Mistakes are the scenic route and almost always more interesting than the straight-line highway. I learn more about creating when I work around or incorporate mistakes, than when I ‘correct’ the mistakes.
yes–true
Mistakes. Yes, I have lots of experience with them!
I have found that my mistakes in life have come to be one of my most cherished assets because I see, as time goes by, their benefits. The mistakes have humbled, softened, and smoothed me into a more conscious person– even though, admittedly, it feels like at times I am a stone being tossed around in the surf. This jostling, though, has taken a lot of the fear of taking steps– of forward movement–away, because I now see there really aren’t any mistakes– just new ways in which to expand.
I haven’t found this confidence, yet, in my art making, though. Each stroke seems like a precious, and irreversible choice. I see how attached I get sometimes to a particular area of a painting, and it’s crippling. It’s as if it’s the only good idea I’ll ever have again. When will I learn to trust in the process and allow the mistakes to show me the way? The answer comes: Experience, I suppose. The only mistake is NOT to keep putting the brushes to the canvas and allowing things to get a little “messy” at times.
Right– I know the feeling–grab a giant piece of cardboard–give yourself 10 minutes and really go crazy–just go absolutely out of control–like you are showing a 10 yr old how to be carefree with paint–then look at that next to what you are presently making and you probably will have some useful information..
From the shackles of “preciousness” to the freedom of playfulness. Sounds like way more fun! Thanks.
This is a great article Nicholas, thank you for sharing. Wow, where do I start? I do not know where my phobia of mistakes or my sense of perfectionism was first planted in me, but man do I have it bad. For far to long mistakes and perfectionism have paralyzed my creative process, and severely hampered my creative production over the years. I believe in my case, it is a byproduct of having success early in my creative career, and being afraid that future works will not be as good, and my constant struggle with, “being good enough.”
Your article shows that mistakes can take an artist to the next level, if one embraces the process and not just the finish. Thank you Nicholas for helping me to rediscover this.
Continued success,
Christopher Marion Thomas
http://www.studiocmt.com
That is interesting — success can often make you fearful of not being successful–from my experience, I now know or rather sense deep inside I can mess things up , then re build a career…just liek a painting—if you are creative–and you are, then this also appplies to your career. I think perhaps you can push further, harder on your career to make it even more like what you want–I though that Stars and Stripes painting on your site has a really ineteresting background..there is a layered intrigue there in that part–cheers–
Wow, I feel like I could have written that myself, Christopher. I feel exactly the same way.
But the more I read posts like this one that Nicholas has written, the more I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank you to both of you.
Nicholas, you nailed it!
I paint with acrylic on sealed watercolor paper and I can lift the paint and get back to the white simply by spraying it with alcohol and rubbing it with a paper towel. I often use this to add marks rather than to “erase” a mark. But, sometimes when I look at a painting I have worked on for days and suddenly realize it is not working (a series of mistakes?) I will spray the entire painting with alcohol and scrub as much of the painting out as possible. The result is never a pure white sheet of paper, but instead a paper full of imprints and random areas of paint that stubbornly remain. Then I study the paper in different orientations looking for “the real painting” – and what emerges is always a totally different painting from what I was working on originally. It is a weird game. I destroy a painting to find the painting. This has become such a frequent part of my process that I don’t really think the phrase “it was a mistake” enters my mind. Instead I think about “un-covering the painting beneath” or “dis-covering the painting.” I try not to rely on it as the only thing I do – all that scrubbing can be tough on the arm – but when a painting isn’t working scrubbing is an option that I trust. And the end result is a painting I could never have conceived of from the beginning.
On the other hand, I do think that a fear of “making mistakes” still obstinately lurks in my subconscious when I am painting. I don’t always identify it as such, but how else can I explain my hesitation to take the next step in a painting or to push onward and take “the risk” of ruining what is already there. It is ironic that I would be hesitant to take a risk on ruining a painting while at the same time having a favorite technique that requires destroying a painting in order to find the painting. Are you laughing yet? 🙂
That is funny–I totally get it though. I have never really used that alcohol technique with acrylic which is crazy as I have been using it and teaching with it for years. I use gessoed plywood boards for a base so it probably would stain more but I gotta try that–maybe bring some spritzer bottles for the next workshop..thanks
I will be interested in how the experiment goes! By the way, I love this pink pearl painting and the way it supports the theme of your essay.
NIcholas,
Awesome Kay! you are going to be blown away with how far you can go in a week–seems like you are just in the right head space for Haramara..Have you been there before?
I have not, and I am eager to get there. I am travelling and attending with a painting colleague. We are set for an adventure for sure!
“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome,
to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”
Ben Okri
When I begin a new painting it feels as though I am beginning a new relationship. We have the getting to know each other stage, then the intimate stage, then the first fight, then the first time we say we love each other, then the questioning, is this the right one for me? … .
And sometimes the answer is no – let’s end this now why we are still friends. And sometimes the answer is yes! This one is a keeper. You work through all the challenges, forgive and move forward. And that is the painting that ends up having a signature at the bottom and a for sale sign. 🙂
Traci–I love this –I actually have never heard anyone compare painting to falling in love–can I share this with people?–so good! Do you write online at all? hmmmmm
Oh sure! It is such a true thing with me and my original paintings. Not so much with my photography as I know I can simply reprint any image at anytime. Sometimes I fall in love so deeply with my paintings that it is really hard for me to part with a piece. Its not that I am such a brilliant painter, its just that I spend so many days and hours (sometimes months) creating it that it has become apart of me. I parted with a painting the other day. It took me three days to get it wrapped up and in the mail. I had to have my final moments with it before it left to live in its new home.
I do have a blog where I write from time to time. My day job has taken over much of my creative time, but I am in the process of becoming a full time artist. Here is the link to my blog: http://tracisuzannemarvel.blogspot.com/ And here is the link to my Etsy Store:https://www.etsy.com/shop/tracisuzannemarvel
I just sold several items in my store the other day. Time to get out my canvas and fall in love all over again!
Taking a class from you is on my bucket list!
Cheers to Creativity!
Traci Suzanne ~
Mistakes, Smishtakes! There aren’t any, I agree…just that deep pull to listen more, be free more, and just express without any critique. Write first, Edit later. Paint first, Critique later. So glad I discovered you and your site only yesterday, serendipitously, too! Will see you at Westerbeke workshop, looking forward. Go Pink Pearl,Go!
Shmistakes! That is a great new word for them….mistakes that aren’t mistakes! Love it
What a timely blog for me to read. I put aside a figurative painting today that I’ve overpainted about a dozen times and still, every stroke was labored! Finally I said enough of this….pulled out a fresh canvas along with my acrylic inks and began throwing blotches of color all over the surface. Can’t tell you how liberated I suddenly felt. And there’s a much better painting already forming from all the chaos! Thanks so much for sharing with all of us!
I did that last week–just wasn’t having fun all of a sudden and had to up the ante–of course right away things shifted..liberation is a good word.
Good morning Nicholas,
A wonderful post to read and perfect timing. I love a Pink Pearl!
Mistakes are a necessity built into my process of painting. The mistakes I’ve always tried to see as a “pause”, a place for me to stop and ask, is it the process I am embracing or is there something else to address. My best work has come from the realization that the mistake(s) weakened the walls of the box I can find myself in, created the events that pushed me a bit further out of my comfort zone and diminished my control over the process entirely. The mistakes are as valuable a tool as any when dealing with creative endeavors.
Thank you again for a great write and some good info to ponder. Best wishes.
Robert
yes, thanks..
I find with my “mistakes” that they can only be useful if I never give up because of what I perceive as failure. If I continue until I find myself in that groove of satisfaction…. The mistakes enrich the work and empower me because I did not give up or give in to the evil inner critic. They are the rich soil of the future. Hard to welcome, but in retrospect aha… valuable.
Traci is so right about the new relationship and falling in love at the beginnings of a new piece of artwork.
Twists and turns, will the work endure. As with relationships the discovery, the dance.
Then the work really starts, can you be free,not picky, not think too much about the work at hand.
At times I need to peel back the layers to get a different view, Alcohol works and also the Sander.
Questioning can be a road block. Jump in to the work, get lost in the moment take a breath,create mistakes
and hope something amazing occurs.
Oh yes , would love to have a chance to win the Pink Eraser.
This is a powerful idea, and I appreciate coming across it today. I rather need it tattooed onto the inside of my eyelids, so terrified am I of “mistakes”.
Two things that help me: The attribution escapes me, but the sentiment is: “Hurry up, and get failing!” It is the path to not failing.
And I made such a colossally bad collage one day. I mean, wow. It bothered me for a few days why I went so far down a crazy road. And in the end I realized this collage was my guide. I pinned it up on my wall, not as a punishment or warning, but every time I look at it, it makes me laugh. It is wonderfully bad and I didn’t die of it!
Yes! When I make a mistake, a wrong turn of sorts, I say, “Ugh!” still knowing it is going to take me somewhere unexpected. I recently got lost trying to get out of DC. I kept getting in the wrong lane thinking I was headed over the river only to find myself back in the city. It was so frustrating but we accidentally got to see a few memorials and the famed cherry blossoms. I think those wrong turns in a painting are the same in that they show you something unexpected and often wonderful.
In gratitude for your experience and sharing. Thank you, fellow traveler,
in the world of art-making.
I am the kind of jump in with both feet painter, feeling my way forward, sometimes racing ahead too quick, which most often it works well, I find when I work carefully and slowly that energies disappear from the work, which then brings on the feelings of “What the hell just go for it” Having a devil may care attitude brings out the best in my work and helps me overcome the mistakes from being over cautious.