Overworked

Do you know what it means to overwork a creative piece?  It doesn't matter if it's a bonsai tree, a piece of embroidery, or a painting, or a story; overworked basically means that you had something that was good to excellent, thought you could improve it so you worked some more on it, and wound up taking it past "good" to something "less-than-good".  It makes you want to tear your hair out or worse -  especially if you think it can't be remedied.

That's what I did yesterday.  During Tuesday's painting class, we discussed how one could paint a rainbow.  It seemed impossible to me, and, unfortunately, it's the final element (the one I've been avoiding tackling) in my landscape painting.  By the end of the class we (my teacher, another interested rainbow painter, and I) turned to the Internet, searched, and found a video of a painter working on a landscape (in oils) that included a rainbow.  Even with no narrative (which would have made it perfect), it was quite helpful.  Aha!, we said and off I went.

Yesterday David went to visit his father and the house was empty for a reliably long period of time during which I could paint to my heart's content, and he wouldn't see what is to be his birthday surprise. First, I watched the video again several times. Then, on canvas paper I practiced the techniques that I had just reviewed. It was a wise thing to do (and one that I don't always do even though I know it's wise), and I'm glad I did it because I learned some valuable lessons. Then I started on my canvas. Here's the first go at it, and luckily I had seen the video so it didn't send me into a spasm. Hold on to your hats -

Scary, isn't it?  It looks like a banner has just been unfurled from a very, very high place and has crashed into the hills on the right.  "Whew," I said to myself, "it's a good thing I know what to do with this mess!  I think." 

I went to work using once again knowledge I had gleaned from the video.  Here's the intermediate-almost-finished stage.

Not bad, eh?  Too bad I didn't leave it alone at this point.  However, as you may have noticed, while the bottom portion of the rainbow has been toned down considerably and, I think, effectively, the upper portion is still a bit strong, a bit too solid looking.  So, thought I to myself, I'll make that better because it isn't perfect.  Alarm bells should be going off in your minds as they should have been in mine.  But no, over-confidence had set in.  I thought I had done a very good job, and if I could do "very good", I could do "perfect".

It's now officially overworked.  Not only is the upper red side still too solid, it's even worse than it was before because now the yellow has joined in, and the red's too hard line on its outer edge is even harder, too.  Let's hope my teacher can find a way to help me out of the hole I've dug for myself!

Lessons learned: first, remember the saying, "Leave well enough alone."  Second, beware over-confidence.  Third, over-confidence leads to over-working.