What Painting Has Taught Me About Life

There are several things I have learned from painting that have transferred over to my philosophy for life:

1. Just Go For It-

Just start.  

"But I've never painted before! But, What if it doesn't look very good?! What if the Met doesn't call me right away?!"  

We are all artists. Im willing to bet at some point our work was proudly hanging on a refrigerator somewhere. Today, I love watching kids create their masterpiece before they even know what it is suppose to be. When you're little you are unencumbered by the opinions of others, and you had a blast creating "football playing dinosaurs with lasers for eyes" or a "boat made out of candy that is also a spaceship". Somewhere along the way we lose that fearlessness, we overthink EVERTHING, and it becomes paralyzing to try new things. In a first world sense, a blank canvas can be terriflying. The best way to fight that fear is to put something down... Anything. Mistakes are how we measure improvement.  Consider that first step the ground floor, short of burning the canvas to ashes, you can literally only get better (unless you burned the canvas on purpose. in which case it is considered art.)

2. Push past the rough parts.

Whenever I paint I remind myself that every painting is going to have, what I call, "the awkward junior high period". The Awkward Junior High Period is a transitional phase that can be applied to a lot of things during life's journey. Braces, People we dated, terrible first jobs, Embarassing trends we got really into; they were all a necessary steps that helped us reach our final goal. Resist the urge punch a hole through the canvas. It is important to lower your head, keep pressing onward and slowly smooth out the rough edges.  This is the middle. It is only the end if you're finished. 

3. Step back. Get some perspective every so often.

I've noticed the longer Im painting the closer I get to canvas, The more my eyes cross and the more frustrated I get at a very minute section of the canvas. I take a break, strum a little guitar, take out the trash, pet the dog or write a blog post explaining the Painter's guide to life. Whenever I return to my canvas I have forgotten what little detail I was worried about. Perspective is KEY.  Have you ever seen a Monet painting close up? It looks like when they let elephants paint. Now, step back. Amazing, right?  So every now and then: take a trip. Drive around without a destination. Talk to strangers. Get perspective. You'll find it's not as bad as you thought.

4. There is no right way to do it.

This drives "Left Brain people" crazy. There are no instructions, no blue book, and no way to grade art. Art cannot be explained. Is it good? Is it bad? It is entirely dependent on who is viewing it. If you are happy, then you are doing it right.

5. Details ARE Important...but save them for last.

The key to painting life-like, glossy eyes is a minuscule amount of pure white paint usually applied just below the midline of the eye.  It extremely slight detail but it makes a different. It should also be one of the last things you add to a piece. If watching HGTV with my wife has taught me anything, it is that you can't begin comparing paint swatches for the breakfast nook until you rewire the entire house because the wiring is from the turn of the century that is a fire hazard which would never pass code today, and adding the granite counter tops are going to go over budget but they would greatly increase the resale value of the house and look great with the cabinets along with the new open floor plan but now they found mold which they will have to remove before the construction can continue .....sorry, I digress. Don't get hung up on little things until the big things are taken care of. Believe me, people won't notice how life-like the eyes are if you leave out an eyebrow.