Friday, August 5, 2011

Mistakes Are Good

                                        Follow The Leader 
                                       by Susie Tenzer 11" X 15"
                                     

Aren't they?  I finally finished this piece and it took me a bit longer than usual because I made some mistakes.   I took the photo on a cloudy day at a lovely Japanese garden in Seattle.  My grandkids were throwing food out to the fish from the bridge we were standing on.  What a commotion!  The fish splashed, the kids laughed and I knew this would make a good painting.  When I got home I made some initial decisions, such as moving the duck and fish closer together than they appeared in the photo.  I also decided on the color palette, cool blues, greens and a pop of orange for the fish.  The lily pads were challenging because at first I made them too yellow-green.  Their tone was also too bright in comparison to the gray blue water.  I got about a quarter of the way through the lily pads when I decided I'd better erase!  I spent the better part of a day, carefully erasing with my battery eraser.  Stonehenge paper can take quite a lot of abuse, though.  I began again, laying a gray green undertone.  Now the effect looks like the cloudy morning that we experienced.  My mistake caused me to pause and think carefully about what I wanted to show.  I learned a lot from this painting - mistakes are sometimes good!

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful painting, great story as well that goes with it. Some mistakes are not really mistakes at all....

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  2. I love the story...the reader can immerse themselves in your day at the garden...and then again while you're painting and re-doing the painting. And you are right....mistakes are good!

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  3. Love how you have a story with your beautiful painting.

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  4. It's very pretty and congrats on the new grandson.

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  5. thanks for all of your wonderful comments & for the good wishes on my new grandson!

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  6. Great painting, great story, and congrats on the new grandson! :)

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  7. Lovely piece, and even though you think you made a mistake it doesn't show. Don't you love that about art? How sometimes things we think of as failures can often be turned around into something else? Glad I found your blog post on etsy. :) And congrats on the new grandson!

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  8. I love hearing the story behind a painting! It truly is lovely...you do beautiful work! I found your blog on the Art Blog Hop :-) Nice to meet you!

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  9. Love, love, love this piece!!

    I wanted to thank you, too, for joining my art blog hop and posting a button for the hop!

    Have a great week, Susie!
    ~Mary

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