The Painting Process - Issue Nº 3
In this series, I share the stories behind my paintings, my thought process, and the discoveries I make along the way.
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Limitless Perfection
You will find a link to the video demonstration of this painting at the end of the article.
Last week, I read a classic book called “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach. I could say that I should have read this novel much earlier, but I believe that the right books appear in our lives at the right times when we have matured enough to understand them.
In the book, the main character, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, had this conversation with his mentor Chiang in a world that seemed like heaven to Jonathan because in that place, every seagull was trying to achieve perfection in flying, and flying was Jonathan’s biggest passion.
“Chiang, this world isn’t heaven at all, is it?”
The Elder smiled in the moonlight. “You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull,” he said.
“Well, what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as heaven?”
“No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” He was silent for a moment. “You are a very fast flier, aren’t you?”
“I ... I enjoy speed,” Jonathan said, taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed.
“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”
If I understood correctly, this story is about how one can overcome limitations by believing in one’s own perfection and limitlessness. When I finished reading the words quoted above, it hit me - achieving perfection has always been my only goal as an artist. I just didn’t realize it. The desire to achieve perfection and my small successes motivated me to keep painting and improving no matter how hard or discouraging things seemed at times.
Twenty years ago, in a lesson on aesthetics at university, our professor asked us to give a definition of art. We made many guesses, but none of them seemed to satisfy her. When we finally gave up, the professor said: “Art is everything done with the highest level of professionalism. It is that simple.” Of course! - I thought - not only music, sculpture, painting, and writing but also architecture, science, cooking, gardening, and even self-control… anything can reach the level of art.
This definition of art determined my course as a painter. I wanted my work to be considered art, so I knew I had to achieve “the highest level of professionalism.” I had to try to reach perfection.
As Chiang Seagull said, “Perfection doesn’t have limits”, and this is what makes painting so interesting. We can’t become too good at painting. I know that many professional painters would admit that they could find things that could be improved even in their most successful pictures. We are never completely happy with our work. We always want to do better.
Trying to achieve the highest heights is not a small goal. It is a goal for a lifetime or, maybe, even several lifetimes. It is a goal that can never let you feel bored because perfection is limitless. This goal can keep you energized and motivated your entire life. On your path, you can feel frustrated and discouraged at times but also joyous, fulfilled, and inspired at other times, if after every failure you get up and keep working.
It is striving for perfection that makes us look at our work critically and leaves us with the desire to achieve more next time. It is our attempt to reach perfection that helps us grow as artists and personalities. This, of course, is related to any area of life and any skill. Striving for perfection makes us more patient and honest with ourselves. It helps us learn from our mistakes without allowing them to discourage us.
On my way to perfection in art, I try to be more observant when analyzing my subjects and more patient when making the drawings for my paintings. I try to mix colors more carefully to achieve the exact color I am looking for, and I always try to do my best to ensure that the value relationships are accurate in my paintings. I like experimenting with my compositions to improve my visual storytelling, and I strive for clarity in my work, including only the most essential elements and leaving out everything that doesn’t help clarity. All of this is supposed to make my paintings more appealing to viewers and elicit some pleasant emotions, like inspiration or joy in them.
Of course our conception of perfection changes as we become more proficient at our craft, but no matter where we are on our artistic path, trying to reach perfection always means trying to do something you haven’t done before, challenging your skills, moving your limits, and learning something new.
I think being honest with oneself is key. It’s essential to listen to your inner voice to understand what inspires you the most and then concentrate on doing that until something else becomes more interesting to you. Our world provides us with unlimited sources of inspiration that can show us many possible directions for our personal and professional growth.
Different things inspire different people, making each of us unique. Those inspirations are like arrows that show us the right paths to take. You can never fail when you do something that excites you and sparks your curiosity because when we do what we love, we are our most authentic and happiest selves.
Funny enough, in my attempts to achieve perfection in art, I had to adjust my approaches to plein air painting and my studio painting in two opposite ways. I learned that by speeding up when painting on location, I could capture the colors of the scene in front of me more accurately and thus create paintings that truly represented what I saw with my own eyes.
On the contrary, when painting in the studio, I realized that slowing down allowed me to make a much more accurate drawing, to think through the composition better and achieve color harmony in my paintings, which resulted in my work having a higher overall quality.
So now, I paint very fast when I am outdoors, where the natural light changes so quickly, and I paint very slowly and patiently when I work in the studio, producing more complete paintings. Often, I use my quick plein air studies as color references to make my studio paintings look as if I painted them outdoors on location. (I’ll talk more about this in my next article.)
What I like about achieving perfection as a goal for my life is that this goal doesn’t limit me in any way. I explore various subject matters, different mediums, and painting techniques. And all of that makes my artistic adventure fun and full of unexpected discoveries. That’s probably why the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull resonated so much with me.
I hope you have taken something for yourself from my words. In the next article, I’ll talk about more practical matters :)
If you want to see how I painted the seagull at the top of this article, here is a link to the demo video:
Lena
P.S. If you enjoyed this article you might also enjoy my free E-Books and painting guides that can be downloaded here: https://www.lenarivo.com/free-guides
Download my free 30-page PDF, “Everything you Need To Know About Gouache”
In this 30-page PDF you will learn:
How to decide which colors you need when you start with gouache and how you can expand your palette to make it even more effective.
What kind of storage palettes to use with gouache to prevent your beautiful colors from fast drying.
Why you need to use two whites with gouache.
How to choose the right paper and what kinds of brushes work best with gouache.
About the setup that I like using for plein air painting with gouache.
You will also be provided with many useful tips that will make your painting experience smoother.
