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Question: Painting dilema !.!.!. need an easy project!.!?
My husband asked to me to make a painting for his boss who is also his friend, as a Christmas present!.!.!. I enjoy doing it because he gave him his first chance in his new endeavor and thanks to him my husband has been able to provide for the last 7 years!. Since I work with oils and sometimes it takes long to dry (I tend to paint with a passion thick coats) I already started working on it!.
My problem is that I started a painting which is looking really good and now I do not want to give it away!. I do not mind starting another one but every time I finish a painting I do not want to give or sell to anyone! I am starting to accumulate and I only have been painting for a year!.
Have any of you ever felt that way!? Are you attached to your art!? Can anyone recommend an easy project that I won’t be so attached to!?
Thanks in advance!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Mariska,
This is a problem most artists suffer from!. One of my professors told the class, "Don't fall in love with your work!. You'll wind up with a studio full of art and no money!."
You do, however, want to carefully document each piece of your work!. Create a journal to discuss your reasons for doing the piece, and how you created it!. Include preliminary drawings, and photos of the pieces, too!. Then sell it!.
Any art you don't mind parting with is not worth the canvas you painted it with!. Art is your reason for living, it's essential to your life!. You put many hours of work into it, and your education!. It will always be hard to let go of!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Loving your kids is also letting go!.
There is no way there is a solution to your problem other that the line above!. If you would make something you would not feel passionate about!.!.!.!. you would not deem it fit to be a present and!.!.!. if it is any good it would be another baby of yours!.
You just have to send them into the world and hope!.!.!. expect them to find a new, good home!. It will not be easy, one way or the other!.
You made it with that person in mind!? It should go there!.
Really!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Why not have it made into a good quality canvas print by taking it to a good art printing company!? Then you can hang the print at home, and give the original away, as planned!. A GOOD quality print is "almost" as good as the original!. A good printing company will do colour tests for your painting and show you the results!. Then you decide if the colour is correct or not, before they print it onto canvas!. If you aren't satisfied, they will do more colour tests until they get it right!.
If I have any paintings I fall in love with, that's what I do!. Then if I want, I can make copies to sell also!.
(Just let your hubby's boss know that he has the original, and you have had prints done)Www@QuestionHome@Com
Yes, I find it a big problem!. And then the ones I can bare to give away I'm not proud enough of to want representing me!.
My solution is usually to give away older paintings, ones I once could not part with but now can!. There are still some from a long time ago that I don't know if I can ever give away, but it is usually easier with older ones!.
But, having said this, I have to say that the few times I've made myself give away (or sell) a recent piece that I was really attached to, it actually was not as bad as I thought!. In some ways it just made me want to paint more and make more!. So maybe you should try it sometime even though it will be hard!.
EDIT: Oh!. I realized I didn't actually answer your question!. In school we had to do what were called transcriptions!. They were paintings we made working off of famous paintings!. Not copies exactly in the sense of trying to make it look just like the real thing!. But more about trying to understand the painting!.s essence, it's basic structure, etc!. They are extremely instructive to do -- you won't believe how much better you know a painting after you make a painting from it -- and yet you don't get as attached to them as you do with your "own" paintings!. That's what comes to mind as an easier kind of painting to give away!.Www@QuestionHome@Com