I made the worst mistake a painter can make.

I tried to paint for a show.

Yeah. I was tempted down that path. I thought I had enough time and ambition and it all would come together right before the deadline.

I should know better.

So the last IAPS convention and exhibition are coming up this summer.  It makes me sad since I have enjoyed attending the convention quite a few times over the last 15 years. In the very first convention I attended I entered the international show with my son in the bathtub painting which won the Gold Medal. I have written about that before. So I thought it would be cool to paint my grandson this time with red ears in a similar pose and yet in a different way.

I was misguided.

I worked a lot over the last few weeks. I put in many hours day and night but as of right now the painting is in my studio abandoned. I was going too fast.  I was putting too much pressure on myself and as a result it is not as strong as I want it to be. I know I will finish the painting at some point, but for now I have tabled it. I have scolded my students over the years to paint for yourself and if something succeeds, then share it. But I forgot, I guess.

If you are like me I tend to start things and go full steam and then I need to take a break from an image.  That is why I constantly change mediums, swap out paintings and most of all, rest.  It works for me and I am old enough now to listen to the inner voice when it gets fatigued and needs some time to figure things out.  I am not linear and neither is my art.

So rushing to finish a painting is unlike me, but I was going to try.  But this past weekend I realized it was not going to happen so I put it aside and picked up another painting that had been in stasis for the last few months.

And I finished it. Maybe even good enough to get into the Master IAPS show.  Who knows?  These shows are extremely  competitive and one never can count on anything.  But I finally felt good about this other portrait that I had been fighting for a while so it may have a shot. It may get in, it may not, but at least this one was not rushed.

Above is a little glimpse of the painting.  If it gets accepted I will post the entire thing. Bubbles and red ears.

Good luck out there to anyone that is brave enough to  enter these types of shows.  It is never easy sharing your work. But it is not easy creating it either.

Back to the easel.