Balanced Rock

 Balanced Rock (4x4")

I'm storing this in a folder labelled "miserable failure", which is conveniently located inside my "let's learn from our mistakes" drawer

A lot of artists will tell you that for every good painting they produce another 2 that aren't very good. However, not many artists will show you their failures. It's sort of like Facebook or Instagram where everyone only posts their wins.

I've decided to show my failures (talking about painting only!) so that maybe I can look back later and see whether I've learned from them. And maybe it will help someone else to see that these failures are a normal part of being an artist.

The reference picture was nice - a rock precariously balanced on a slope, with some trees and houses in the background. What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out I could draw all the shapes really flat. And I could pick a bunch of mid-tone colors where not a single one really stands out. Then I could lose all separation between the rock and the sky so my main subject disappears from the composition. Oh, and I could make the sky really grey! Or I could do all of the above and really learn from all of my many mistakes :)