day #215 - Something!

This seems the most complete piece in a long time! Come to think about it, I'd say it's the most complete piece since I left the studio. It's good once in a while to produce a piece that feels balanced. I am not saying that it's flawless and that I like everything about it! There are things I feel could evolve to be better (and I even have a direction). But it definitely feels balanced, without some major, shameful flaw. Needless to say I'm happy about it; I even was lucky enough to work on loose paper-sheets meaning that this particular one can leave the confines of my sketchbook. Moreover I like this style and the exploration of dynamism and light/shadow in the asbtract land and vegetation universe; I think I might keep exploring in that direction. I like the palette too, though it's a bit too "color-theoresque". Still, a good application with discrimination.
I love how I was adding texture with the single flat brush that I had been using, by driving light strokes/dents inside dark areas and dark strokes/dents inside light areas. In some future piece I'll try and vary the complexity and thickness of lines/shapes towards the horizing. It also feels like I could had added some warmth to the colors in the horizon - some warm haze. In any case, this feels like a good piece. Well done myself. Pat on the back.
Coming back to have a last glance to my painting for the day, I noticed some typos (there always are, and I almost never re-read the text) and started editing it. Now I feel the urge (for the sake of honesty - it's an artistic diary after all) to note that all this celebration around this piece is not about it being better than other pieces, or more fun making, or more intriguing. It's all about making a piece that feels marketable.
Most pieces I make, feel faulty, pieces that "people would see and not like". Usually the have some random part, somewhere some ugly proportion or some muddly colors. The thing is, whenever I see pieces made by other people - be it kids, amateurs, or professionals - I can never see such glaring mistakes. Of course I can see mistakes, but they feel more like "choice" or "unimportant" or "fitting with the whole". In my work, this is rarely the excuse. My mind is screaming (even as I write this) that only I make such pronounced mistakes. It's only statistics that say otherwise. Anyway, there are the occasional pieces however where I can't see this pronounced flaw. Pieces where flaws are "acceptable" and these pieces, I like celebrating because I imagine that these are the pieces that can end up on somebody's visual stream without being insulting.
It's a low expectation but it's a truthful one: When I say good piece, I mean a piece where my populist critic doesn't have anything really bad to say.