It happens to all of us. What to do? In the interest of time and frustration, one should not revert to the Book of Excuses. You know the one, the PAINTING ISN'T WORKING, THE LIGHT CHANGED, or THE PAINT IS NO GOOD, or HE DOESN'T LIKE IT or....... Inevitably I have found that the culprit is me and the way I am painting. Often for me, the original concept has been lost. I have to know exactly what I am doing wrong. After a refocus on the concept I know that problems occur only in one of the five visible elements: Shapes, Values, Colours, Edges, and Paint Quality.
In order to take corrective action I must define the problem in a clear concise technical term. For example, too many sharp edges, or colour needs to be warmer by adding orange, or value is too dark, or shape is too narrow, or paint too thick. These precise diagnostics come from comparison to the concept, what I see, or another shape in the composition. At least this results in a clear prescription to try.
Here is an example.
Out From the Crowd, sketch, 12x12, Oil on Canvas
This was the second painting of the day. Below is the "after" photo. See if you can see the changes made. You can only guess at the concept, or what I was seeing, or why the composition.
Our From the Crowd, 12x12, Oil on Canvas
This satisfies MY concept. It answers the question "What did I see?"
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