Layers, layers and more layers. This isn't actually as blue in the background as it looks in this picture. It is getting a bit brighter and things are starting to get a little tighter. I had to lighten some areas on her face just a little, so I have some white glow going on in places that I will cover in flesh color later. While waiting for the paint to dry, I slapped some gesso on a couple canvases and browsed the web.Jessica Torrant has a very interesting post on her blog that got me thinking about strengths and weaknesses and the big "secret" to success.
Strengths
One of my biggest strengths is the ability to keep on plugging in. I am the kind of person that can do the same thing over and over as long as I can see progress or know it will pay off in the long run. Tedious tasks are always given to me because I am the one who can see it to the finish. Jessica states "Your greatest strength is your greatest weakness." I have never heard that before, so I had to really think about that for a while. She is right. One of my biggest weaknesses is that I will keep plugging in beyond reasonability. Ack. The past couple days examples of that have pounded my brain and its a little frustrating to realize how many times I have done that.
Weaknesses
One of my biggest weaknesses is losing faith in my own ideas. I have a lot of sketches. I have a lot of notes. Most of them never made it to any form of media because I had no faith that it would be any good. If I didn't lose faith in the idea itself, I would lose faith that I could execute it properly.
Jessica says "Your greatest weakness is your greatest strength. If you can overcome that perceived weakness, you are free, and that is the greatest power besides love on earth!"
Last week in my Initial Layers post I was tossing the idea of revisiting these old sketches to get the creative juices flowing. After reviewing some old ideas, I decided to start with this one. This idea is about 8 years old or older. That is a long time for a painting to sit unpainted. I cannot say I am going to do it justice this time, but giving it a try is going to be much farther than it has ever been.
Jessica goes on to talk about visualization. Please go read her post if you haven't done so yet. She does a wonderful job of explaining this. Interestingly enough Bobby Chiu just put out another podcast about the visualization as a tool. I am one of those people who love to believe messeges are sent to me for a reason. I have decided that visualizing is my next lesson... and I really need to get "The Secret".
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