by Tara Leaver

• We all want to be more consistent, and yet once that starts happening it’s surprisingly easy to get stuck there and lose the spark that seeking brings. Don’t wish away your current state too soon!
• Having a range of apparently unrelated paintings not only feeds the insatiable curiosity beast, it also allows your main body of work to develop further even while you’re working on similar pieces.
• When you reach the inevitable Ugly Phase, or simply a place in the painting where everything looks and feels a bit ho hum, the first thing you’ll probably hear in your head is ‘Oh crap I’ve ruined it’. This never has to be true. In fact, it’s a place of power. A tiny shift of perspective, from ‘it’s ruined’ to ‘huh, now I have something to respond to’, means the difference between frustration and the buzz of a challenge. The other side of that phase is where your best work lies.
• ‘How can I….’ and ‘What if I….’ are the two most powerful questions you can ask in the studio.
• A successful painting has both intentional decisions and uncontrolled chaos in it.
• You’ll never reach your definitively best {aka perfect} work and that’s a good thing. You can make your best work ‘right now’, but even a deeply satisfying piece never feels like your ultimate best, and that’s why we keep painting. That’s the gift – we get to start another one and continue to do what we love. When you reach the top there’s nowhere left to go.
• Every painting has recognisable phases or cycles. Some pass through them very quickly, and when that happens you’ll probably feel like you’ve cheated because it was so easy. {You haven’t.} Some seem sent to endlessly torment you, and those are also a gift because they’re offering you the chance to go up to the next level of ‘best right now’.
• Every painting – every stroke of every painting – is full of paradox and deep teachings. The more open you are to listening and learning, the more mature and nuanced your work will be.
• Podcasts and Classic FM make excellent studio companions.

from here: http://taraleaver.com/2018/06/when-the-artists-journey-takes-you-somewhere-new-9-lessons-learned-from-experimenting/