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Failing Toward Success: Painting Tip of the Day.

Prevailing Through The Process is Chapter four in my book Progressive Painting: Your Creative Journey

The book provides numerous tips to help improve your paintings, but one I emphasize in this chapter is failing toward success.

Failing toward success? You probably already want to turn around, run and forget you ever saw this article.

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Stop right there and listen up! This advice will help you grow immensely as an artist.

The right amount of challenge can assist you with success.

Over the years as an artist I discovered there were times I painted amazingly well and then the next day I couldn’t do anything right.

How could this be possible? I was very confused and frustrated.

Well, I learned that the successful works had elements of challenge, great interest and preparation.

I will give you tips to grow your creative process and turn out successful pieces of art.

  1. Fail toward success. You must fail to build on your skill (a.k.a. learn from your mistakes).
  2. Take your time. Sometimes we run out of time and decide to rush a piece. Shortcuts may deliver a quick product, but your overall growth as an artist may be minimal!
  3. Keep a good attitude. Rather than being upset with our failures, use them as a stepping stones.

When you are starting a painting, first select your subject matter.

Next you must draw the best arrangement of shapes on a page based on what you want to say about the subject.

Then you must give that piece an assignment to follow, it could be the color palette, the amount of value contrast, etc.

Make it specific, the point is that you know what goal you are working towards.

The key is to focus on what you love as work.

Fear is the opposite of love and boredom is the opposite of challenge.

If you focus on a specific task you love, you can keep fear at bay and replace that with love.

Ellen