I’ve been working on this painting that’s been driving me crazy – I just haven’t been able to make any progress on it. Today though, I finally had the breakthrough I’ve been waiting for!
Watch the video and let me know what you think. Have you had any “breakthrough” moments with your work?
In gratitude, Nicholas
56 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.
Yes! great explanation of your aha moment. I too like the top half better. It’s like giving my eyes some quiet places. Because the white is a contrast with the black, they weren’t resting places. The light blue gives that. Thank you for sharing this great insight!
Waaaa, I need an aha moment!!! And NOW! I listen to you say how these guys can sit in our studio for months and then- all of a sudden it hits. That calms my panic. Thanks so much again, Nicholas!
Get what you are saying a total improvement .Love the painting to the left but what purpose does the bracket shape serve?Love all your posts …am an art student in Leeds U K
This makes perfect sense.
BTW…
I love the painting to your left!
Ditto to Both of Ann’s comments🤗
Makes perfect sense… but please talk about the piece to the left, it has some wonderful ideas happening (at least for my eye)
“More different” needed to hear that today. thanks Nicholas.
Makes perfect sense! So refreshing to hear you talk about your thought process, reasoning and explanations. Love it and love how that piece is coming together. It’s taking on a 3-D quality depending on the angle you look at it from — even on my computer screen. Also, love the comments on here about the other pieces on each side, I’m wondering if that’s because of the colors. Onward!
Funny, when I first looked at the painting, I LOVED the upper part but was confused by the blue. SO I agree 100% percent! Thanks as always for sharing, makes me feel better that I sometimes look at paintings for a long time and can’t figure out what is wrong. Your posts help!!
Your solution is excellent! The tone of the lower blue color introduced an unwanted and discordant voice in the conversation between the dark and the light. Your response to lighten and alter the color to a slightly more greenish tone made something wonderful happened. The contrasting light areas became unified while sustaining interest through a subtle interplay between them.
However, the greater lesson you taught us is to reflect and meditate on the work until it reaches a state of perfection you are content with. You stopped it from going to the gallery despite, I assume, deadline pressures. Good enough isn’t good enough. The potential owner of this painting may never comprehend this effort, but he or she will certainly feel it for years to come.
Thanks for your insight and encouragement on letting the process take time. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/572d5b3e9edffffffc9993b193affec7ae209084ae3781ef868b51e2e64d16e7.jpg
Loved the changes!!! Curious to see if you will leave moments or two of the blue as color pops usual in your work. Thank you as always for this insight!!!
I really like the lower section for its 3D effect, and I like how you changed the top area to be different. I find I’m searching for a reciprocal treatment in the top black sections, maybe a slate grey replacing 3 or 4 blacks. Really brilliant approach that can apply to all kinds of compositions.
Well Nicholas, another great lesson! I saw it immediately….after you pointed it out. Hah! That is such a subtle thing. I’m going to look at some of my perplexing paintings with that eye now to ‘see’ if it applies. Anyway, I do like the improved version better. I did ‘feel’ something ‘off’ with the lower half of tha tpainting but I wouldn’t have been able to name it. Thanks bunches
Hi Nick,
To me, a painting can’t be complete until nothing on it bugs me. It is so risky to make changes, because so often the changes don’t work. When the “improvement”works- it feels so good!!!! So cool to witness your excitement on this painting. Yes it totally clicks, but the real take away for us here is the lesson of value.
Thanks Nick.
I like the idea of looking at a painting as if it were a conversation.
Very interesting concept.
I have a painting I am stuck on this very moment.
Perhaps looking at it under this new light will help me move it along.
I heard once that every good conversation starts with listening.
Maybe that is what I need to do, listen to my painting and see where the conversation leads.
Thank you as always Nicholas. I look forward to every post. Participating in a workshop is on my bucket list. ~
The duck egg green does work a lot better. It pushes back the activity between the green shapes and integrates the whole surface enabling the scratched lines to become more visible and the occasional three dimensional thrust of the black areas to become clear. The blue pastel shapes in the lower half read as lively forms spiralling behind the black, pushing themselves forward and separating the painting into conflicting layers. Colouristically much more pleasing (to me) as well as more successful in unifying the work. Serendipitous epiphany!
This is a great example of what I find myself up against. I tend towards the “Checker Pattern” lately by repeating a shape in light and dark, but find it is too much in the end. Having the mid-tones go lighter or darker is definitely the answer. I love repeating patterns both visually and as a meditative process so I am glad there is a discussion of how to make this work, other than painting the small elements out and defaulting to large fields of color. Thank you.
Thanks, Nik. I have been pondering over one of my recent paintings and I think you have helped me define what the problem may be. I also like that you were discussing it with Ferris – always good to dialogue about the “issues” AND that you casually added that you may “hate it” in a few weeks — !!! When I visit homes that have my art hanging on the walls I sometimes think to myself “what was I thinking?” — ha. I guess that is one of the reasons we keep working – always a new challenge and problem. Sending you best wishes for a great day.
value for me has always been a sort of afterthought..since I love vibrant color. So your issue with the “before” painting really resonated with me. I have learned at this late date of my artist life to value value! I agree with what you did…
Agree with so many aspects of everyone’s comments, no need for me to reiterate. However, must add my voice to show appreciation for the subtext of listening to a painting’s conversations, and the lesson on contrast. Four minutes that taught so many valuable concepts. Oh, love the green, vacation for my eyes/mind. Thank you.
Definitely needed to hear “more different” today. Thank you for sharing your Aha! moment. I need one to happen soon. 🙂
Will you leave the blue in addition to the green?
Good Day Nicholas
Your approach of listening to a painting as if there is a conversation going on makes evaluating the intention of the work so much clearer. I’m practicing applying this way of evaluating as I strive to push forward and progress in my work. Thank you for this pearl of wisdom.
I’m finding that my challenge is to simplify and maintain restraint as I tend to want to throw in too much conversation. Do you analyze or plan your intention prior to beginning a painting or do you just go with what you feel like painting in the moment and then establish what the painting is about as it develops?
I started ripping, cutting and tearing away shapes to reveal under layers and found something interesting. Thinking of loud and soft conversation and value relationships will help clarify my next painting.
Thank you Nicholas ❤️
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e52ed6753e7187e2d78f64e51f7d329e70734309cef446c390089a0e02b8107.jpg
Well I tend to find my way as I go more and more with my painting…I like not knowing or even thinking about it before I pick up a brush…so glad this was helpful…
Nicholas –
Thank you so much for your explanation of this. It makes perfect sense! Thanks for all of your videos. I love hearing your thoughts as you work on your paintings.
I absolutely LOVE the painting on the left! Could you talk about that one??
And thank you, Nick, for sharing all your wisdom.
I agree about the painting to the left. I really like it.
Well that is an older painting that I refuse to paint over just because it hasn’t sold yet. I am waiting for the right person…lol
I also like it a lot
I have been catching glimpses of this painting in your other videos and loved the shadow effect. Guess I’m the only one who feels that the lighter value green flattens the painting and, to me, reduces the dynamic tension between the dark, medium and light values. I hope you will show us the completed piece before it goes to the gallery.
You’re always inspiring and I so love your work. Thanks for your generosity.
Perfect sense I️ so enjoy your Sunday videos. So now what about the midrange blue?
I think there could of been some for sure…
I like the blue triangle at the upper right in amount the greens. I feel some of the greens should be in amount the blues. To me this would tie the whole painting together.
Loving the subtlety of the upper half. It draws my eye in to investigate and adds a sense of mystery.
Since watching your Sunday sessions. my painting has loosened way up and I am starting to get happy with it! I just finished one that I didn’t overwork and I liked it very much and used an idea for texture that I got from watching you. Hung it on the wall without criticizing it. It’s a huge step forward for me! Thanks for your positive influence, Nicholas.
Beth–that is tremendous! Well this is just the kind of news that keeps me excited about sharing –you never know who might be helped and in which way…
Yes, I would agree with this change. I sometimes get hooked on a particular color, and I want to use the color so badly that I incorporate it into my work. Then I realize that it doesn’t really fit into the direction that the painting is going.
Thanks Angela
To hear how much even you still struggle makes me breathe s sigh og relief 😊.
I totally see how you organized the painting in such a pleasing way. For me there is a top 2/3 organized with the light values and the bottom 1/3 bound together by the blue middle valued shapes. Bravo!
And thank you for sharing your 💡moment 🎨
Oh yeah–no one gets a hall pass from struggling…ha! Loved that recent painting you did I saw on instagram btw!
Thank you, Nick!
What a great discovery Nicholas, so glad you hung in there with it.
That’s a really interesting point you made about the relative subtlety (sp?) of the colors. Really true. Also gave the painting a faint hint of landscape orientation, which helps the viewer to relate to the image.
Interesting Nicholas! I probably don’t think of it in the same way as you’ve described here but i do like to have different values in areas for interest and I do know what you’re saying and agree with different tones being louder etc. I feel like when i tone something down that I can breath again! I am wondering though if you have covered ALL of that beautiful mid tone blue or did you keep some? I’m also wondering why you changed the blue colour totally and didn’t just say lighten the existing blue if you loved it so much? Did you feel like you wanted a different blue totally? Isn’t it fascinating how all of our art brains differ with how we try to solve the puzzle. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Lea!
Still curious about my above questions hehe. Im very interested in how you came to choosing a very different blue…or did that blue really just change that much with adding white? I know that sometime happens too 🙂
no scrap that..I just looked again…not possible haha, its more turquoise 😉
I think this is really interesting. I wouldn’t have been able to say why it’s working differently. I just saw the green as another color at first, but of course I see now that it’s subtler. Also, I see the blue as moving behind the black and white and I really like that and like that it is a change from the green—as though the color shifts from green to blue and on top and then behind the black.
What a great explanation. When I first looked at the painting, I liked the green areas better than the blue areas and it all made sense to me why I felt that way as you explained the difference it made. Thanks.
The softer greenish color also adds warmth.
Better!
Your video’s are always very helpful, thank you! I’ve been working on these for a while and something is preventing me from calling them finished. If anyone has any helpful suggestions, I am all ears! Thanks!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03ee7028d6a319b4398356831a99e492a673cc2d6faf156d3e483dd855f6177a.jpg
I think they’re great
deborah, fun work! i have simialr vocabulary but you are certyainly a more adv. painter than I… most of your marks/symbols have a similar size sm.&/or med… my only suggestion: add something big and BOLD 🙂
I really like the lighter green and how it shows the lighter marks more.
The blue is nice too but I agree busier and takes away from the blood that I love.
Thanks for your insight.