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As you pursue excellence as a painter (and trust me, it’s a pursuit!) you will be faced with the decision as to whether or not you should tackle a particular painting or not.  The challenge may come from yourself.  You may want to try a substrate you have never painted on before, or a larger size than you have ever undertaken.  You may want to paint a more complex scene than you have ever done. The challenge may also come from another person. Perhaps a supportive spouse, a parent, sibling or friend. Perhaps it might be  a challenge of the highest stake - from a person who would like to commission you!

An example of an early challenge I gave myself - lots of trees, large, multi-day plein air...not one of my best pieces by a long shot!

When faced with painting challenges, I always bring to my mind a saying that I’m sure I’m paraphasing inadequately, but the gist is something like this: “an ordinary man shrinks from and avoids the challenge whereas the warrior embraces the challenge as a means to mastering it and future challenges thereby improving upon his abilities.”

My tip is to start with challenges you give yourself.  Have you been intimidated to try something because you don’t think you currently have the chops?  Maybe you don’t.  But then again, maybe you’ll surprise yourself.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Your painting ends up a dismal failure?  Let it dry and paint over it.  Regardless, you’ll have stretched yourself and learned a thing or two or three in the process!  In each “failure”, study what others more masterful have done and try to figure out how you could approach things differently in the future.  Then you would have learned something and grown putting yourself in a better position to accept the challenge that comes from the demanding patron who wants you to paint whatever it is they want you to paint.

I wiped my drawing efforts numerous times!         Teeth are always problematic for me!

A number of years ago when my dad was still living, he suggested I paint this portrait of my mother who passed away about 5 years prior. My initial reaction was I did not really want to do it because it was posthumous, from a snapshot, and she was smiling (she always smiled but smiles seem difficult and unnatural to me in the painted portrait). Bottom line, this was going to be very challenging to me and I wasn’t sure I would be able to pull it off. In other words, it was high-stakes. However, I brought to mind the saying.  I told myself if I was not the painter I wanted to be, this would be a step propelling me toward it, one way or another.

I embraced the challenge and as I approached the completion of the painting, I surprised myself! ...I captured the essence of my mother in this portrait. My dad loved that painting, he showed it off constantly and kept it near his chair in his living room till he died. It was a constant comfort to him and I cannot begin to describe how happy I was that I took that challenge.  

My ability to have succeeded in this instance however was always in question.  I may not have been successful had I avoided any number of previous challenges and only painted that which I was comfortable with.

I encourage you to do the same with your painting challenges and see how you rise to the occasion and your painting skills improve with each challenge taken!  Be a painting Ninja!