Blind Certainty

Have you ever been certain about something? So certain that you plunge into a task not bothering to pause and question the initial premise. So certain that you are blind to any warnings of potential problems. In a sense every painting requires a certain level of myopia. If you stopped to do a realistic assessment of your chances for success you might not start.

Drapery Study with Nude, oil on linen, 26" X 30", 2004 - 2006

This is the first painting for which I hired a private model. It was 2004. The painting I envisioned was to have a prominent drapery study with a nude figure as a secondary element. I had worked the drapery to near completion before engaging the model. To say this was not a good way to approach a painting would be a gross understatement but it seemed plausible at the time. As is often the case this image looks better in reproduction. In real life the figure is disjointed and never fit naturally with the drapery. The composition is constrained and awkward.

Looking back I now see this project as a colossal overreach. I was in way past my competence level. So it joins my stack of failed canvases. I now try to approach a painting with my mind and eyes as open as possible and a constructive skepticism has replaced certainty.