A wise art teacher gave me a piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten, and I want to pass it on to you. I had left my job as a math teacher to go back to school and learn about illustration…but after about one semester of steady progress, I hit a flat spot and I started really struggling in my drawing classes. I felt like I was going backwards, and it seemed obvious that I was doing worse every day. I told the teacher I thought I’d lost something and was that I was considering the possibility that I had made a huge mistake. She told me that these phases of struggle happen to everyone at some point- and that when they do, you should “get down on your knees and be thankful”l because the struggle means a breakthrough is coming.
I accidentally discovered that you can combine drawing and painting in a literal way, depending on the surface. 1999
Because I had put my faith and trust in this particular teacher (The great Barbara Bradley) I tried to take her advice and push through the the plateau that I was on. I was several more weeks before one day something clicked and I found myself looking at drawing that suggested a bit of a leap forward. To other people im sure that drawing by Itself didn’t look like much, but I could tell that there was something that had happened.
I tried to paint this personal project on paper, and learned that changing one variable-different surfaces -can lead to very different outcomes. 1989
Since then I’ve always tried to fight through when I run low and energy or when my work doesn’t seem to be going that well because I know that I’m on the verge of something if I just keep going. I thought for this month, I would post some of those breakthrough pictures that I’ve had happen over the years.
I was hired to paint a portrait of Lincoln for the cover of a major biography. This was a sketch that i painted over and stopped at the right time- I couldn’t use it to show the client, but it definitely had something that I could use in the future. 2008
Some of them don’t look like much and have ever been in my portfolio because many of them don’t really represent anything other than a stepping stone for me.
I went through a phase where I painted large (24×30) landscapes from life (“en plien air”, if you must) This one came after probably 10 very disasterous attempts. 1998
A used to attend a painting group once a week, where I struggled to contain my competetive nature. Once I stopped worrying about the results so much, this happened. Doesnt look like much, but theres something there for me.
They are occasionally the beginning of a personal project, or just a “happy accident” that went well. Sometimes I have had aseveral in the same year, other times they might be years-and hundreds of projects- apart.
I painted hundreds of small 20 minute daily paintings after I had a hand injury- aftera great many days of this i started to see a pattern- only much later did I realize that this- for better or worse- was actually me speaking in my own authentic voice.
an accidental monoprint. usefull.
experimenting with scale, I had a really large surface.
Sometimes my more experimental work was a good fit for a commercial project…
I once ran into another illustrator in the Frankfurt Airport. We decided to do a children’s book “Mr Blockhead” together, it never worked out but I did have this lucky accident as a result …
did a series based on a walk through manhattan, never did anything with it but a couple of the paintings had something going….
using unfamiliar tools and techniques can lead to something interesting, maybe a whole new direction. PLus theres extra pressure if you paint Sargent.
Sometimes I put them in my portfolio but more often than not they are outliers within the larger body of what I was doing, and as such I didnt show them out of fear that they would create a sense of risk for clients. Eventually I began to understand that these accidents were parts of my personal voice fighting to the surface, and I began to show them.
on of many demo paintings I have done over the years this one was a big breakthrough for me…since then I dont feel pressure doing demos.
One of my first opportunities to use my 20 minute painting method for a national audience, Mick Jagger for Rolling Stone.
my first truly sucessful (to me) Landscape paintiing. I didnt realize until I got home that I had made a good one.
sometimes I use the painti left over on my pallate to make a doodle, and once in a while the pallate looks back at me and speaks.
The pandemic was a terrible thing, and at the same time a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity. I tried to take advantage…
Even though these stepping stones may not look like much to others, they have always been important for me because I can sometimes build a whole new sequence of work on them. If you have been doing this for a while, you probably have had a similar experience. If you are just starting out, you will have the same thing happen eventually. I think if you look at your own work, you’ll find those same steppingstones and if you find yourself in a flat spot, be thankful for the struggle and keep pushing because maybe they’ll be something there.
I had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Bradley before she passed away when I was at the Academy of Art. I wish I had gotten to learn more from her.
The blog shares advice from art teacher Barbara Bradley on embracing artistic struggles as pathways to breakthroughs, highlighting the importance of perseverance in creative endeavors.
I never got to meet her but Barbara Bradley’s book Drawing the Clothed Human Figure has been part of collection and useful reference for years now, she was clearly a great instructor!