Don't Quit Too Soon: Advice from Betty Franks Krause
Abstract work often relies on the richness of lower layers. So when artist Betty Franks Krause, Ep.10, sees her students stopping early in the process because they’ve fallen in love with a first layer, she knows that can be a real problem in developing meaningful work.
But what are you supposed to do about it?
Put it to Practice:
Here are five ideas to help if you find yourself falling in love and stopping in your early layers.
First, have a repeatable process.
This is what Franks teaches in her workshops, and it’s helped the artist herself not stop too soon in a painting. A repeatable process gives her a path to move through those early stages, even if she loves them, and head deeper into the painting without stopping too soon.
Second, work in a series.
By building up several paintings at once you help yourself feel less precious about any one. When you begin to fall in love with a layer, go work on one of the other 4.
Third, take a photo of the layer you love for longevity and then commit to keep working.
There will be beautiful layers all throughout the process. Trust that you’ll find new ones the further you go in. And if not on this painting, on your work as a whole.
Fourth, when you fall in love with a layer, again, take the picture but then put it away for a few weeks.
Maybe part of your process requires a hibernation period where you give yourself some distance from the work. Let it dry, put it under the bed, and then in two weeks (or a month) go back and look at it again. You might find that while you still like it, you no longer feel precious about a particular layer.
Fifth, audition the idea that maybe the painting IS finished.
Put it up and walk past it, trying the idea on. Maybe your body is telling you that something is finished but all the shoulds of the world are keeping you from trusting that. Give yourself permission to entertain the idea that it might actually BE finished.
But also give yourself permission for it NOT to be finished and to keep going.
Learning to cover up parts you love does take some getting used to. But trust that you won’t stop until you have a painting you love. So it’s not a win/lose scenario. It’s win/win.
Hopefully you will love many layers in your process. And when you do, stop and recognize it for its beauty. Take a picture. Love it fully. Take a rest on this piece if you need it. That’s OK. But then keep going. A completed painting is a WHOLE painting. And loving aspects along the way is part of the journey.