This list of the obligatory steps in the Creative Process has been doing the rounds on the internet for quite some time now, and every time I see it I'm reminded of just how accurate it is.
Recently, after a two-week break from painting (due to school holidays) I was seriously doubting that I could ever be good at painting. I was working on a canvas I had started pre-hols (so had already bypassed the wonderful Step 1: This is Awesome).
I had found a moment to block in the colours on the painting, and was very much in the 3. This is Shit section of the painting, where it's rough around the edges, the colours are average and there's not much depth to it.
I left it for a day or two after that, cursing it every time I happened to see it as I passed by my art room. It was only when I remembered this list that I'd saved on my Instagram, then I realised (not for the first time) that I have to continue with it to push it through that ugly stage.
I am now in the 5. This might be ok stage, but still not at Stage 6. There's work to be done, but it's not a "burn it and never speak of it again" piece any more. I've since changed the headlamps so that it doesn't look cross-eyed and will be looking to add more depth and/or interest to the background. Plus it still needs its pops of pinks as the original.
