(Image by Dan Antion, with permission; his blog is No Facilities.)
A dialogue with a friend yesterday about perfection in his painting
(he is learning gouache) reminded me that perfection freezes us. Also, NO artist is objective about their work after they’ve just finished it. We spent the time struggling with this or that mark/color and know what we wanted and how it is not THAT.
We see the screwy mark/color, not the forest, so to speak.
Anywho, I love sunflowers and the season is ending.
Painting sunflowers in early morning sun is a stretch for me.
Grisaille helped build tone under the washes of watercolor.
Middle-of-the-night, insomniac painting!
I’m happy with it, a happy image — except for the misdrawn leaves —
JUST KIDDING.
Pentalic Aqua Journal, Platinum Carbon pen with Platinum Carbon ink;
Lexington Gray Ink, Sennelier, Holbein, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
©D. Katie Powell.
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That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
D.Katie Powell Art 
This is beautiful, Kate. I love those sunflowers, and this is such a great reminder of their beauty.
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Thank you for the image and inspiration; they are my very favorite flower.
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I have to write this quote somewhere I can see it every day!
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Yesh…..
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So true, I struggle with that, I’ll see a mess and people will ooh and ahh….crazy isn’t it? Your sunflowers are wonderful and I personally love those leaves!
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Hah! You don’t see that one group of messed-up leaves, where I was going to do this and that happened….
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Your mess, my wow!…..well, now I want to really take a closer look! lol
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AAACK! Nooooo, best seen from far away! 🙂
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😀
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I resemble that thought process!
Your sunflower field reminds me of the field I photographed this summer. Your painting is lovely!!
I’m writing the quote down too! In fact I may use it as copywork so I remember it. 🙂
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I imagine so… most creatives do. Do you recognize Dan’s image?
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Hum…I’m not sure if I recognize this or not. I read almost every one of Dan’s blog posts, but don’t recall seeing this flickr post.
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I may have seen it following him on Flickr….
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Awesome. Sunflowers have a special place in my heart. The bright yellow color make me feel better. I love roasted sunflower seeds as well.
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Yum to the seeds, and such happy strong flowers that follow the sun! We put a bit of Braggs on them — a healthier “soysauce” if you can find it there — and bake them in the oven.
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Your rendering of the sunflowers makes me smile, Katie. We’re hanging onto summer! Thanks for that 🙂
I really love that quote…must remember it when I’m bible journaling or scrapbooking. It’s so easy for me to want perfectionism, to not be “wrong” in what I do, which is totally against creativity.
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So true, stifles it. For thoughts to flow or paint to flow, it needs to be free of the critic. One can always edit later….
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Great photo, great painting! Great people too, but you and Dan know that! 😀
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❤
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