Being Open to Failure...

"Open to Everything", pastel, 14x11"

I asked my students to do something new. Even though they didn't have to try it, every single one of them did. When you try something new you have to be willing to fail, knowing that you will learn from it...

Under-painting

I thought I would try the same thing myself at home in my studio. I started out with a charcoal under-painting and began adding color. What started out ok, quickly became a mess! I was so frustrated! I washed the pastel off the pastel board, hoping to start again.

I realized that I needed to add tooth to the surface so I painted a coat of clear Gesso over the ruined painting and walked away from it for a few days. I really felt discouraged! I don't usually like working on "homemade" surfaces and I wasn't looking forward to trying to save my mistake!

The time away from it helped and I was able to return to my "failure" and create something that I like.

I liked the effect of the homemade surface and want to try more paintings with this approach. I learned a lot, but most importantly, that failure is a learning opportunity!

Have fun playing with your pastels!
Judy