Resurrection of a Disappointment

 For something that is supposed be enjoyable and a stress reliever, art can be a pain in the ass. In my mind I envision a painting - the colors, the size, the design. At my table I assemble  the appropriate colors, prepare the canvas, and then I start putting color to canvas.

As the design starts to appear - albeit slowly- I am enthused. I think to myself - 'This may be my greatest piece yet'. Then the main subject is too big. The colors are not as vibrant as I imagined. The placement on the canvas is crowded. I begin to see that the streak of (supposedly dried) black paint in the background has leaked  turning the bright green color into shades of muddled gray. While trying to fix this the image gets  distorted. After a while I throw in the brush. At this point I ask - why I put myself through this? 

Sitting back and looking at the canvas I do not recognize the original design I had in mind. It now looks like a piece of art a 5 year old child would create with their hand paints, only not as good. Now what?

Given the muddle of gray and dull brown paint over the bright white, I doubt this is salvageable. Who wants a painting of a mud, in various shades of brown, gray, and olive? So I do what any inspiring artist (I use that term loosely) would do. Taking the spatula, I normally use to even paint on the canvas, I scrape all the paint off.

Now there is a blank canvas and a pool of paint. To my surprise, unlike the muddle mess that was on the canvas, the pool has striations of the bright green, red, and turquoise orginally in the painting. In a move of total frustration and curiosity, I spoon the discarded paint onto a smaller clean canvas. This creates a painting that resembles a work by Sydney Pollack that has melted and spread across the canvas. 

Comments from my posting of this work, that I call  "Resurrection of a Disappointment", are very positive. In fact they are more numerous and positive than other paintings I have shared. This begs to ask: Does my talent lie more with random remnants of a failed painting "spooned" onto a new canvas, rather than the original design I thought was a great idea? Does this mean my "talent" is in starting a painting, failing, then randomly reclaiming the discarded paint onto another canvas?

Perhaps I should take up stamp collecting.