Limited By Success
Many of my students are professional artists. Sometimes their work is so good all I can say, by way of critique, is “it’s perfect … just sign it “. As for their success and career everything is going great but when it comes to their wholistic art health there is a danger . I have seen it in some of my best students and this is my warning to all … “Don’t let your success in one medium or one subject limit you from learning how to handle all media and all subjects.
I once won a ,” Best Watercolor ” award in a city show for a painting of a coyote. The girl that won “Best in Show” did a large and very beautiful watercolor of wicker baskets. It was one of those watercolors where the artist pushes the medium so far into photo-realism that your jaw drops a little and you think to yourself, “is this a lifetime achievement and how many years did this take to finish ?”
When I told her that I loved her awesome painting she quickly replied, “if I had to paint my cat I wouldn’t know where to start”.
Because of her great results with this medium and with this subject she soon found herself trapped by her own success. “Detailers” are very susceptible to this “success trap” and certain media lends themselves to it i.e. pencil, pen and ink, scratchboard and colored pencil . Certainly the painting media are not exempt especially if you don’t own a brush larger than a #3 detailer .
Of course you should stay with and enjoy all your success “in” whatever and “of” whatever … Just don’t be afraid of the throes of attempting new media and new subjects .