I Have a Good Idea!

So... I have trawled through my sketchbooks, looked carefully at the work of artists I admire, looked at nature and the world around me and searched my inner thoughts and feelings.  I have paged through my Picture Notebook, and my Trash Can Journal, and I have finally come up with a good idea for my painting. Clever me - can't wait to get the paints out and get going...

This is precisely how most of my paintings start - I look a bit, think a bit, get a good idea and before you can say "Leonardo Da Vinci", I have the basic design mapped out on my canvas, all my equipment set out and I'm up to my eyeballs in paint.

Let me tell you what happens next....

I paint with great gusto for 25 minutes

I stop to make a coffee

I prop the work up on my easel and stare at it while I drink my coffee

I wonder about the placement of one of the figures in the picture

I paint that figure for 10 minutes

I paint around that figure for 10 minutes

I go to the kitchen to make a sandwich

I eat my sandwich staring at the painting I have done so far

I take my plate back to the kitchen

I notice that there are dishes in the sink, I wash them

I go back to my easel and paint a bit of the background of my picture

I paint for another two minutes trying not to think 

I stand back and have a little think

I paint a bit more of the background

I worry that the background is not right for the figures

I rinse out the brush I was using

I clean three other brushes while I am at it...and my palette knife

I wipe my palette a bit

I take a deep breath and make myself paint for another 25 minutes

I can't resolve the background

I quickly wipe off the background (I am working in oils here)

I wipe off the figure that was worrying me earlier too

I feel much better

I wipe off another few centimetres of another section of the painting

I paint over everything for 45 minutes

I stop to make a coffee

I prop the painting up on my easel to stare at while I drink my coffee

I wipe off the whole picture

I take my cup back to the sink

I feel much worse

I wash my cup

I look at my watch and realise that I need to fetch my daughter from school

I dash off to school

6 hours later, when everyone is in bed, I clean up my paints and palette

I carefully wash my brushes, first with turps, then with soap and water and put them away

I put the canvas away and my easel

I take out my old sketchbooks, and my Trash Can journal, I open my Picture Notebooks 

I start looking through them

Looking for...a NEW idea

Wait a minute...

I had a good idea.  I liked my idea, it excited me, it had me running to my easel.  I could imagine it as a painting.  What happened?

What happened is this: I did not check to see if my good idea was a great idea. I did not go through any of the steps that I need to go through before I start to paint. I did not work on my good idea. Of course it could have been much worse. I could have been painting for several weeks before I wiped it all off. It would not have been the first time.

So...if you have a good idea like me, here is the very first thing you need to do before you start painting:

Do Nothing!

Live with your idea for a few days.

And when you have done that.  I will tell you what you have to do next to turn your good painting idea into a great one!