One of my followers sent me an email over the weekend which pulled me up short
She said she often goes away from my blog feeling bad because the work is so polished
and she feels like she could never create such finished work
now I must say the thought of my blog making anyone feel bad about their work
or in any way at all is pretty bloody awful to me
so I decided to do a post showing some of the paintings currently on my desk
which all got stuck in the ugly child stage, or never quite came together
or just are doing my head in for various reasons
So let's open with my new kettle... which is gorgeous... all deep green and shiny
the painting not so much
going to take a couple of goes to do it justice I would think
This little sketch of the outgoing kettle was better than the new one
as an aside... this baby was called a whisper kettle
and was the greatest bit of mis labelling ever
as it sounded similar to a bomb going off in a toaster when it came to the boil
but despite hating this kettle with a passion that was a little unhealthy
the 3 minute sketch turned out better than the half hour I spent on the new beloved kettle
which is just how it goes sometimes...
This one doesn't look too bad
gorgeous tea and container, colour not quite there, but ok
until you see the whole page
yep... ink smudges all over the place, frame wonky and crap lettering
I smudged the ink with my sleeve... twice
then tried to fix it and just made the frame thing wonkier
then didn't put any thought into the lettering and used my normal chicken scrawl
and it happens to be in one of my favourite sketchbooks
no clue how I am ever going to fix it
it may stay stuck like this forever and never blossom into loveliness
another page in a different favourite sketchbook
that is all over the place like a dog's dinner is this one
that chicken at the bottom looks evil and is totally doing my head in
Phantom believes the chicken doesn't look evil
she believes it looks like a gangster bouncer chicken
not sure about that one, but fair enough I suppose
not to mention the smudgey paint and running colours
This one has been on my desk for months
and this is the second attempt as number one went into the bin quick smart
it is for a blogging friend called Carol to celebrate her getting some great medical results
the background was too bright so I tried to knock it back... not great
then the composition bothered me
so here is version number three
better composition, but a bit scared to put the paint down in case it turns on me
like it has the other two times
and of course here are the bloody deer heads
this is attempt number five
yep five
I swear to you these things are sent to torture me
the minute I add paint it goes horribly wrong... scarily horribly
and all other versions have been consigned to the bin with a great sense of relief
because then I don't have to face them
then we have the cursed hydrangeas
I can't even tell you what number attempts these are
and these were the pieces I put my hand on in five minutes
there are so many drawings and paintings stuck in that ugly child stage it is scary
but just like Phantom who went through a dead ugly stage when she was little
but turned out rather gorgeous if I do say so myself
I have quite a soft spot for the duds and crap work
some of these will end up ok,others will come together nicely
but some will be forever rubbish... and that's ok
happy painting all...xx