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Stuck? Stymied? Suffering from Paralysis by Analysis?

Some of these potential paintings have been revamped or painted over. It's part of an agonizing process.

• What do you do when a painting isn't going the way you envision? What helps you--and it--get back on track?

         Sidney Oliver

Stop! Halt! Cease!

What follows is pretty much common sense. You know what to do. The problem lies in resisting the urge to mess with it. Believe me, we have all been there.

• Do not work the painting to death, especially if it’s a watercolor. You can always resurrect an oil even if it’s painting over a discarded painting. You will need to be careful with watercolor. Watercolors need to be fresh.
• Set aside the painting, but leave it visible. It might take a while, but somewhere in the recesses of your brain and possibly when you are not thinking about it, a solution will appear.

When building the studio, I demanded a working fireplace. Yes, I love fires, but I also love to have a mantel to prop the paintings on which I’m working. Consciously looking at a painting and trying to solve a problem doesn’t work for me. That goes in the “trying too hard” category for me and it’s useless. Some of us tend to suffer from paralysis by analysis.

Again, some of these have been reinvented.

In the studio, the mantel serves a purpose other than a shelf to display candlestick holders. 

• Remember, sometimes the solution is to cut your losses and trash it, or in oil, reuse the canvas or panel for a potentially inspired painting.
• If you are impatient or if you really cannot come up with a solution on your own, ask someone with a good eye to take a look. A little nudge or two is perfect and if you can take it, the full throttle. My artist mother was the best critic I’ve seen and I frequently had to swallow the full throttle approach. I use my framer now, but she is so gentle, I receive only the hint of a nudge. Believe me, I look and listen to her so closely that it's eerily similar to when I study the flight attendant's expression when there are unusual noises on a plane or a nurse's expression in the doctor's office. She's way too nice to give me the full body slam with which I had grown accustomed. All of this is a bit like a priest needing a spiritual advisor. We can all benefit from guidance whether it's the hard-hitting variety or the innocent gesture.

Even though it's frustrating a lot of the time,

Enjoy the process!

  Ruthie Windsor-Mann

This post is part of a series of Q & As between Ruthie Windsor-Mann and Sidney Oliver. 

We invite the reader to join in with other questions in the comments section. This needs to be interactive in order to work.

All photographs are by Ruthie Windsor-Mann unless otherwise credited.

Copyright 2019 Ruthie Windsor-Mann All Rights Reserved