Why Good Artists Paint Bad Paintings Part 1

I've been trying to make a decision about my blog lately. I started blogging to talk about creativity, its role in my life, and the results of my creative efforts, primarily in watercolor. I named my blog Painting Simplicity because I felt that was the main theme in my work - painting the simple beauty all around. When blogging I am frequently making decisions about how personal to get, how much to reveal, especially as my site is a business venture for me. With this in mind, the last couple weeks I've been wondering how much of my failings to reveal - I've been painting a lot of duds.

There. It's out and the choice has been made - guess I'm not going to hide the fact that paintings do not always turn out at my studio. Lately, I'm really not turning out anything worth framing, and it does get a little frustrating. When I was painting for my first solo exhibition, during 2001/02, it seemed like I was satisfied with and framed every painting I completed. So why am I having so much trouble now, especially when I know I'm a better painter than I was back then?

The more I think about it, the more I have become convinced that the reason I have painted so many junkers lately is because I am a better painter than I used to be.

Did you know that already? Or are you mystified and wondering what that's supposed to mean? I'm going to let you mull it over, and explain it all in my next post.