The gap between vision & reality

At the weekend Pen Kirk and I taught a couple of classes in Greymouth, including a gelli printing one with Abi Gully. It was great fun and I meet some new local artists.

I asked one full time artist how it feels when something doesn’t turn out as expected. She said she’s fortunate that things always work out as envisioned. What a great position to be in!

That’s definitely not my experience. I’ve talked before about days when I’m ‘in flow’ and the art happens instinctively, and the days when everything is a struggle.

Yesterday was a struggle – what was in my head, and what appeared on paper, was a mismatch. Why? It’s usually because I’m making a change in style, colour palette, shapes or even substrate.

Does it matter? No. It’s frustrating at the time but often leads to a breakthrough. The key is to just keep going. Below are four of the pieces I started yesterday that I’m going to try and fix today.