Question of the Day
Is it cheating to either 1) wait for the sky/water to become interesting, or 2) look in a different direction where it is interesting? Discuss.

The last time I did a really obsessive series, 2 years ago, the rules were thusly: I will sit in the park and paint what is in front of me. For the next painting, I will move my easel and paint what is next to that, even if it's ugly or boring. In this way I went all around the edge of the playing field at Gillson Park in Wilmette, Illinois between May and September, doing 26 (I think) paintings. I never backtracked, or painted the same scene again, but always plodded forward, counter-clockwise, regardless of whether a whole horde of children was standing behind me saying it didn't look like a tree.

As I was sitting at the lake today with my Starbucks and scone, I kept telling myself "NOW! NOW is the time to select the moment!" but the sky kept getting more interesting as clouds moved away, and new moments came into being. I became confused and agitated, and luckily few people were around to witness it, and how I eventually sat frozen to the spot (and it was about 40 degrees out), unable to decide what to do.

Until I just said, f--k it, enough already, and started writing and drawing.

The Masterpiece itself will be up later.

- posted by Cynthia @ 4:36 PM | | | Link |