Vision Conniptions: Managing Our Mind's Eye In Art

 

Introduction

Every artist has been there: Sitting, staring at the finished piece…the finished piece that isn’t even close to what we initially envisioned in our mind’s eye. Maybe it fell short in the expectation department, much to our disappointment and frustration. Maybe it ended up taking on a life of its own and morphed into something quite different. Maybe our inspiration petered out midway in the process and we had to switch gears. Maybe our vision was wrong and we had to make ever more extreme corrections, ending up with a very different outcome. Or maybe we just got so caught up in creating it, we veered off track and careened into new territory. Whatever the reason, it happens: Our outcome may not match the vision that inspired us in the first place, through necessity or by accident. 

Now some artists react to this in a negative way, becoming evermore annoyed and disillusioned for deviating off target. It’s understandable though. They have this fixed vision in their heads they aim for, so when they fall short, that’s interpreted as a failure, and in a way, it kinda is. We should be able to hit our mark after a certain level of expertise, yes? And every artist wants to make their visions real in all their purity and perfection, that’s part of the magic, right? So when we end up missing the mark, that can certainly be a source of frustration and self-deprecation.

On the other hand, some artists react positively to this outcome, surrendering themselves to the mystery and uncertainty of the creative process. With a much more nonchalant attitude then, they really don’t care how far they’ve swerved from their inspiring idea as long as they like the outcome. They essentially embrace wabi-sabi, the Japanese acceptance of imperfection, and turn it all into a positive. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Really, this is certainly a healthier attitude. However, it also means that if they have to actually hit a mark, are they really all that motivated and disciplined to hit it? There are certainly times when we do have a bullseye to hit, but with this attitude, how much of a compulsion is there to do so? Not much. And that can be a problem, especially for certain situations like contracts, commissions, or even for our growth and progress.

So perhaps the magic is to be found in the middle? Sounds like it: We’re able to hit our marks when needed, but give ourselves some grace with a bit more detachment to better ground us. Wabi-sabi, baby! And in all this, we can adapt immediately to any project because we know what “hill to die on” and which to let go, and so we don’t beat ourselves up for that, either way. Sounds like an all ‘round better situation to me! 

But how do we get there? If we’re in either camp, how do we find this magical middle? So let’s talk about the relationship between our vision and our outcomes, and how we can better manage that synergy for a more positive creative experience. Let’s go!

The Nature Of The Beast

The fact of the matter is — the truth 100% of the time — is that your vision will always be perfect in your head, and so it will always be better than your outcome. Always. Even if you think your outcome is absolutely incredible, the best work you’ve ever done, the ideal, dreamy one in your head is still ten times better. That’s just the way of visions, that’s just their nature. Or said another way, that’s how they’re meant to be. Remember, our visions are meant to inspire us into action, they’re meant to compel us in a very profound and overriding way. They’re supposed to capture our rapt attention, make us obsessive and compelled, and drive us forwards with a singled-minded determination, working past challenges despite the inevitable setbacks. They’re meant to be extraordinarily powerful! Being so, and perhaps most strategically, they’re also meant to push us past the fear of public criticism to make real something that’s never existed before, directly from our hearts and souls. There’s a lot of vulnerability in that so it takes a lot of courage to be creative! Well, our vision being as powerfully inspiring as it is gifts us with the moxie to do just that, doesn’t it? As it should be.

So understand and accept that no matter how hard you try, your outcome will never match your vision — ever. It will always fall short. But that’s okay! That’s normal, that’s human, that’s part of the magic of making art, and that’s what makes art so fascinating and challenging. Indeed, if we were always so self-satisfied with our art, would we really stretch, question, and grow? Probably not so much. It’s in the struggle, it’s in the pursuit of our vision’s perfection, where all the fun stuff happens. So reconcile with that inevitability and embrace the “divine dissatisfaction” that every artist must live with. And in this sense, it’s rather hopeful, isn’t it? Striving towards our vision compounds the meaning of our journey in ways only such a struggle can, and we may derive a lot more satisfaction with any outcome gifted to us framed this way.

Perfectionism

Once we’ve accepted that our vision and our outcome will never truly sync, we can be gentler with ourselves when it comes to perfectionism. Because perfectionism is a trap — a terrible, inevitable trap door with big scary spikes at the bottom of a dark pit. Avoid it at all costs! Be gentle with yourself and give yourself plenty of grace to make mistakes, to take missteps, and to not create above par. We can be our own most cruel critic, can’t we? Well, stop. You should be your own best advocate! Your own best cheerleading team. Because think about what it is you’re doing — you’re creating something that has never existed before, pulling it right out of the mysterious ether! That's pretty impressive! And you’re doing it in perhaps one of the most difficult art forms: Equine realism. The horse rendered realistically has plagued artists for centuries. Even Degas never thought he got the horse right. Stubbs had to dissect horses to even come close to understanding them. They’re so difficult in fact, that even Leonardo da Vinci wanted to be immortalized by his monumental sculpture of a horse, something he considered a seminal achievement to depict well and which would assure his reputation as a world class artist. So give yourself a break, my friend! The mere fact that you end up creating anything halfway good at all is an extraordinary thing! Pat yourself on the back far more often than kicking yourself in the gut! Your art and your vision will thank you for it.

Yet this doesn’t mean to get lazy or cut corners or not strive for quality. Absolutely not. Instead, it merely means to keep that hellbent, blinding, cruel taskmaster drive of perfectionism in perspective. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence,” said Vince Lombardi. He was absolutely correct. It’s impossible to sculpt or paint a perfect horse — only Nature can do that. Only DNA can sculpt and paint with 100% technical accuracy. We will never ever measure up as fallible human beings. So even in equine realism we’re a Don Quixote chasing our windmills, always doomed to failure. But again — that’s okay, that’s normal and human, and it’s part of the magic of equine realism. Because — yes — we do need a lofty standard to chase, don’t we? It gets us to improve and push ourselves, to challenge ourselves and question things, and that’s always good for our art. It also gives us a baseline so we know when we’re right and when we’re wrong, allowing us to make corrections with greater clarity the more we See. Nature’s perfection also inspires us to dream big which has pushed our entire art form forwards in spectacular ways. So while perfection may be impossible, when we strive for it, we’re going to stretch ever further into our latent potential and become exceptional artists all the same. What a wonderful thing! So in this spirit, hold the perfection of your vision gently, don’t clutch at it so greedily. Let it guide and inform your piece instead rather that exerting undue pressure on your experience to make you miserable. Arting should first and foremost be fun and joyful, not drudgery! If you’re more disillusioned than delighted, you’re doing something wrong.

Authenticity

The perfect power of your vision helps to ensure that you’ll remain true blue to it, too, and despite all the derailing obstacles critique or criticism can throw onto your tracks. Never forget that your vision is depending on you. Out of all space and time, you are your vision’s one and only conduit for manifesting into the world, you are its one pathway for being made real. It is at your mercy and desperate to come through, as pure and as powerful as possible. Honor it by creating it as authentically as you can, as truthfully as feasible, and as purely as possible. Do this, and you’ll find that your work not only takes on a deeper meaning, but your outcomes also tend to be better and more powerful than if you “created by committee.” Your own Voice will deepen and your body of work will gain a lot more authority. Always be true to yourself with your art! Indeed, your vision directly informs your Voice and your Voice directly informs your vision — it’s a splendid synergy that results in glorious, powerful, authentic work when in sync.

But it takes abiding confidence, love, and gumption to create authentically, doesn’t it? Especially when others are telling us to change this, or not do that, or just do this one little thing, or I don’t like it, or yada yada yada. Noise! It’s just noise! And it’s the perfection of our vision’s voice that’s louder than all that noise, isn’t it? Chase that instead and it will always steer you where you need to go.

Plus, when we chase the approval of others, when we seek validation outside of ourselves, we’re going to compromise, even lose our voice. Honestly, when we need external validation to tell us something is good or even finished, we begin to distrust in our own opinions, inspirations, and motivations, we can lose our confidence and guts, and worst of all, we can train our brains to continually think we’re subpar in our abilities, and all together that’s a dangerous place for an artist to be. And because we think we need to create perfectly according to other peoples’ opinions, our tool strokes and creative decisions are no longer our own! Not cool! Instead, the only opinion you need to validate is your own, 100% of the time. The only person you should be focused on pleasing with your art is yourself! Always. So take a step back, focus on the enjoyment and fulfillment creativity provides you, and rediscover how much you actually love it and, ultimately, you’ll come to like your outcomes a lot more as a result.

 

Seeking outside validation also corrals your willingness to explore and express, to chase down your own genuine inspirations rather than catering to the inspirations of others. For instance, you may feel your cherished vision isn’t popular enough, isn’t trending, and so you put it on the back burner indefinitely. Ugh! No no no! If you feel compelled to realize your vision — no matter if it’ll be “popular” or not — do it. Remember, it’s depending on you! If I didn't create work because I thought it wouldn't be popular, I'd have never created Stormwatch! And look what happened with him. You've got to create your visions regardless of anything — it came to you and only you...live it!

Leaning too much on outside validation also dampens your willingness to take creative risks. Honestly, if you’re more concerned about what others will think of your work, you’re less apt to push boundaries, question things, and challenge convention all of which leads to less growth and exploration. What does all that mean? A creative plateau, a lot of anxiety, and less fun in the studio. In a sense then, our vision is our hint to stretch, isn't it? It's our messenger that whispers to us, "Take the risk, challenge yourself, take bigger bites...streeeeeeetch!" Because only by stretching towards its light can we hope to grow as artists and on our own terms. What a shame it would be to miss out on that because we were too concerned about what others think. So darn those torpedoes! Full steam ahead!

But worst of all, fixating on the validation of others will quell your voice and your vision’s power, and that’s never a good thing. When we’re too concerned about what others think and expect of our work, we’re going to paint ourselves into a corner, maybe even not create at all! It can be paralyzing! And it can snuff out so much good stuff waiting for us in our art. Because the universe needs you to create authentically, full bore, all the time. That's your task as an artist, your prime directive, your duty to your vision. So simply focus on seeking your own validation first and foremost — all the time — and the rest will just fall into place. And trust that whatever is truly unimportant will fall away for the noise it is, leaving only the purity of your vision, your intent, and the love imbued in your work.

Because what’s a better measure of success? Chasing after the magic of other artists to always pull up short? Or creating fully with your own magic to be triumphant all the time? Your vision is a manifestation of your own artistic magic — never forget that. And your magic is unique in all the universe, through all space and time. What an amazing thing! So no matter how incredible you think the work of another artist is, you don’t need theirs or anyone else’s magic to make yours any better — yours is perfect and complete and powerful already on its own. It’s a singular force! So trust in it, honor it, amplify it, and create authentically by expressing it to its fullest. Being so, your vision can be a pathway for improving your own confidence and self-esteem because by learning to honor it, you learn to honor yourself, too. And what better measure of success is that? What’s a more authentic expression of ourselves than that? And what greater honor of our vision is that?

So trust in your vision’s powerful perfection, and trust in yourself to express it in an authentic way you can truly end up loving, or at least, really appreciate your earnest effort. Your vision’s perfection may be the brass ring you can never grasp, but seeking to express it as truthfully as you can will make your madcap ride all the more amazing and enriching, and your art all the more authoritative and authentic!

Evolution

There's this, too: Every piece undergoes some degree of evolution away from its vision during the creative process. It's as though the vision was self-actualizing and changing its mind as it designed its new body. Evolutionary changes can be minor or they can be major, and everything in between, but whatever they are, don't fight them so much. They're your vision participating in the creative process, they're part of the conversation between you and your piece. Because more times than not, these little evolutions end up as better outcomes, don't they? Maybe more like happy accidents? Always leave yourself open to the happy accident even if it deviates away from your vision! Yes! Why? Because that was your vision shooting you a gift, a moment of revelation only it can give. So allow your vision to participate in the creative process — stay open to its voice because it can change its mind from time to time, deciding another way is better. Besides, if we fight our vision's direction change, don't we usually find confusion and frustration in its wake? Our vision knows what it wants so if we stay responsive to it, it will steer us where we need to go, where it needs to go, and that almost always ends up as a better outcome.

Gumption To Keep Going

Many artists get stuck in the gap between the “inferior” outcome and the perfection of their vision. Perpetually frustrated, some may even quit arting altogether, thinking that they’re simply not cut out for it. This is a disaster! Don’t let that happen to you! Because the fact of the matter is that there will always be this gap between the outcome and the vision — that’s normal, that’s inevitable, that’s expected. So the trick is to continually hop over that gap to keep creating in spite of it, to leap over that trap to keep moving forwards. 

So rather than letting it stop you, do the opposite: Create more work. A lot of it. Seriously…volume counts! It’s through creating volumes of new work that we learn the fastest because it’s in the doing over and over and over again where we develop, explore, discover, and evolve. So while it’s an easy slide to think that we need to work tirelessly on a single piece to fully realize the perfection of its vision, spinning our wheels and getting nowhere because of it, the truth of the matter that the perfection of our skills comes from finishing a lot of varied new work. 

So when our outcomes don’t measure up to our visions, it’s not because we’re fundamentally incapable, it’s simply because we haven’t created enough work to have learned enough to reduce that gap. That’s all. No biggie. And that’s fixable, right? We got this.

The Middleground

So with all this in mind, how do we find that blessed middleground between obsessively realizing our vision and just letting the chips fall where they may? How can we essentially allow for both at the same time and still improve without driving ourselves nuts? The trick is in surrendering just a bit. That is to say, surrendering just enough to the mystery of your creativity to allow for evolution and mercurial mayhem to happen, but not enough to just throw it all into the wind without a care. Because with equine realism, we do have to care, don’t we? We have a bar to clear, the example of the living animal, right? So we have to care just enough to clear that bar plus a little bit more with each piece to stretch our skills, but still not end up tearing ourselves apart if we pull up short. So what are some strategies we can employ here?

Well, why not pick three goals per piece? What areas of your skillset do you feel need work? What aspects of an inspiration fascinate you most? What goals in your piece are most important to the narrative? And as you get better, you can add more goals. Overall though, this approach helps you to create reachable goals that certainly help you to feel successful realizing your vision more fully.

What’s more, work on more low-key, playful, no-pressure pieces from time to time. In essence, build creative playtime into your schedule. Just have fun! No expectations, no pressure, and no parameters. Be spontaneous, be impulsive, take risks! Experiment, explore, and discover! Like my NaReViMo horses are a classic example of this kind of work. They’re just pure fun without any expectations other than learning and experimentation. And lemme tell ya…they sure are refreshing to create! And in turn, they help me to realize just how close I am actually coming to my visions in my regular work, that I’m not such a failure after all. Pretty sweet.

Similarly, set a minimum bar of mastery rather than a maximum bar. In other words, set the bar at some level you can actually reach with a stretch rather than at something beyond your skillset entirely. As a result, you end up with a piece you’re happy with, maybe even love, but you still know there’s room for improvement. Learn to take bites you can chew rather than choke on those that were way too big. So put those pieces on the backburner for your skills to percolate because your subroutines are already working the problem. Remember that learning is always happening so give yourself the space to learn at your own pace and ease up on the impatience part. Yes, it's nice to be able to bang out a piece with greater ease, but it's also nice to give yourself the grace to be human, too. Those bigger bites will be doable with time, but only if you allow your subroutines to do their work in their own way. Be patient with yourself.

So along those lines, try not to fixate only the outcome, but also on the process. Like let’s say you’ve enjoyed yourself creating a piece and actually improved even just one thing about your skillset with it — that’s a win, right? Then lather, rinse, repeat. Keep things in perspective. The more energy you spend worrying about the outcome, the more likely you won’t even art in the first place! Life is too short for such lopsided priorities! So decide for yourself that today is for the making of art and tomorrow is for its critique — then make a lot of art. Over time, you’ll see incremental improvements as you look back over your earlier works, and that’s a huge inspiration to continue, isn’t it? So learn to enjoy the process, too, and build on that.

Because, indeed, we have expectations of our work, don’t we? Which means we have some milestones we want to achieve in our work, right? So when we cannot meet those milestones, we get frustrated and disillusioned, and think we’re failing our vision. We may fall into self-loathing and may even toy with giving up. However, the problem may not be in our skills, but in our process. In this then, think about breaking things down into smaller steps, into smaller and more chewable bites. Always remember that your expectations are ideals, quests set out before you by your vision. And chasing after them willy nilly isn’t always the best plan — you need a strategy! So break things down into stages you can reach. So instead of “I need to get better at painting,” think instead, “I need to improve my understanding of color theory,” or “I need to improve my brushwork technique,” or “I need to learn how to make my bays pop more,” etc. Really break it down into highly specific terms, right down to the fundamentals if need be. Ultimately then, your focus tends to shift away from the “perfect” outcome and more about doing things to learn how to perfect them. Make this a habit, and you’ll find that you’ll not only improve a lot faster, but you’ll also come a lot closer to your vision’s truth as well.

Now if your frustration is at a limit where you’re thinking of stopping: Don’t stop, just switch gears! Experiment with different mediums, styles, and narratives. Practicing and experimentation and discovery can take you really quite far and also remind you what you enjoy most about arting in the first place. Heck, maybe you’ll find a medium that better clicks with you and you fall in love all over again with arting! So never stop moving forwards, just sidestep if you have to into a new direction. But just keep moving!

On that note, build your confidence with little affirmations, doodling, and other creative “palate cleansers.” For instance, be quicker to pat yourself on the back than tear yourself down. Learn to pay your work compliments so make it habit to also find those areas of a piece you love, and become accustomed to being your own best advocate. So if you hit a wall with your vision and you find yourself unduly self-criticizing again, put the piece down and work on something else for a while, something that’s just fun and wholly enjoyable. Doodling is a great palate cleanser, for instance, as is sketching and making maquettes. Play around with no-pressure creative play in other media or styles, or maybe simply studying the works of other artists to decipher technique can be a curious and productive diversion. The point is, learn to see the good in your work, too, and don't be afraid to take a kind of creative "rest" from time to time to refresh your attitude and perspective. Play is powerful! And it's through play that we can actually find a lot of the treasures we need to continue our quest for progress.

Speaking of which, learn to analyze your own work and creatively problem solve your way through it. You’re going to run into hiccups — that’s inevitable. Every artist has to refine and fix their work as they go. But if your first impulse is to get depressed because you’re disappointed with your piece, that’s something to rethink. Because what you call frustration, I call drive, what you call disillusionment, I interpret as a call to action. What many artists don’t seem to realize is that self-analysis and creative problem solving are as much of the creative process as anything else and they need practice and training, too. So study your art — what areas do you think need improvement? Be very specific! In fact, the more specific you are, the more actionable direction you have. Do you need to beef up your basics or learn whole new skills? Do you need to rethink your techniques entirely or simply tweak some methods here and there? And when it comes to problem-solving your art, here’s where a clinical eye comes into play. So make it a habit to do some artistic exercises to refine your eye and work out problems before you even get to your piece. And think about sketching out your piece first to tease out and solve problems beforehand, to capture that vision just a little bit more before you ever touch clay or pigment. And here's where a photo-editing program can be particularly helpful so you can work out problems in a photo before ever cutting into your piece. You can instantly see if you were right or wrong with your correction in a non-invasive way. Very helpful! But all in all, learning to clinically problem solve your work is a critical skill for any artist, especially in our technically demanding art form. So just remember: Nothing is precious! Everything must serve the cohesive whole in terms of technical realism and composition and design so don't be afraid to make the necessary corrections when needed. And even better, the more advanced you get, the more you tend to avoid mistakes in the first place, making your creative experience easier and more confident with experience and time.

That said though, also learn to be happy with imperfection. At no time is your work ever going to achieve 100% technical accuracy in either the sculptural aspects or painted features. Only Nature can create such authenticity. So work on your piece until you’re happy with it, not until it’s “perfect” which will help you avoid overworking it or driving yourself bananas chasing impossible windmills. Spinning your wheels in your creativity is a surefire way to frustration, confusion, burn out, and quitting. Remember, chase perfection only as far as excellence and no further. Perfection is impossible, but excellence is well within your grasp with a lot of stretching. And never forget that mastery is a moving target and that learning is a life long process. Indeed, Michelangelo said at eighty years old, "At last my apprenticeship is finished, I am ready to begin." Absolutely, you’ll always be reaching for your vision and it’ll always move just out of reach with each forward step you take. It’s just a lofty ideal, the grail, the impossible prize so if you get even halfway close, that’s a big win! Just never stop reaching for it as that's where all your treasures will be found.

Always acknowledge progress no matter how small. Even if you fail, too, isn’t that progressive learning? In order to make progress more accessible and tangible, break your process down into smaller and smaller baby steps. So imagine a ladder with big ol’ gaps between the rungs then compare that to a ladder with small gaps between the rungs — which is easier to climb? Smaller steps towards a goal is simply the smarter tactic and though it may take a bit longer, you’ll absorb and master more along the way. And never underestimate small victories! And never bash yourself for taking a bit longer than others to grapple with a new method or medium. Everyone is different with different learning routes and speeds.

On that note, become an observer of your own art for a while. Pull yourself out of that headspace by adopting more detachment. For instance, “I hate this piece” becomes “I did that part super well and I love it, but maybe I can try xyz here next time,” or “I can see what I was trying to achieve here, but what could I do differently next time to really take it over the top?” Stepping back and viewing your own work with a kinder but clinical eye can spin it in a new perspective that can help you analyze it more fairly. Because when you’re creating your art, you’re putting to work multiple skills at once. For example, you’re applying the skill of logistically creating the art, then you’re applying the skill of observing and comparing your art to your references, then you’re adapting to the evolution of the piece as it manifests, then you’re analyzing your piece as it progresses to make adjustments along the way, and on and on. As you gain experience and savvy with all of this then, your ability to spot mistakes improves, and you can more clearly see how your piece doesn’t sync with your vision more specifically. Now the thing to remember is that this ability to spot your own mistakes that may seem frustrating and debilitating also happens to be the same ability that helps you improve. So it’s a constructive skill and not a destructive one, is it? So instead of thinking, “My art bites and I'm a loser,” think instead, “What isn’t working for me here?”

But perhaps most profound, a point we always seem to forget, is only you know the nature of your original vision before you created the piece. Only you know the truth of it. So when your art doesn’t match your vision, you may tend to become critical of it. Okay. But here’s the thing: No one else can see what was pictured in your mind’s eye so they aren’t drawing that comparison! To them, your piece is far better to their eye than to yours because they’re seeing it for what it is, not how it was supposed to be! In many ways then, is that not a fairer assessment? So while no artist can completely stop comparing their finished piece to their vision of it, try to aim for more detachment, try to see your piece from another viewer’s perspective. That can often provide a more rounded judgment on whether you “failed” or not.

Try to keep your priorities straight insofar as art should be done only for its own sake. It should be created with love and the purity of expression and celebration and connection. In short, it shouldn’t be created as a form of comparison with others. Remember, most artists don’t post their mistakes to their social media or their “bad” pieces either. They only post their successes, right? And they make their processes seem effortless and straight forward with editing, don’t they? But we all know that the artistic journey is often convoluted and arduous and fraught with missteps that need shoving back on track at regular intervals. So don’t compare your work to that of other artists who present a skewed view of their own journeys. Instead, compare your work to your previous pieces so you can see the very real tangible progress you’re actually making. Never forget that practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes progress!

Embrace the “divine dissatisfaction” Martha Graham spoke of so wisely of because it’s an inevitability of the creative journey, of the art life. You cannot escape it so reconcile with it and learn from it. Indeed, be more afraid of the day when you’re 100% content with your work because you may be stuck on a creative plateau or have unknown blindspots riddling your work. On that note, also understand that scientists believe we have a “negative bias” hardwired into our noggins developed in evolution to warn us of threats to our survival. However, it can be a real burden when it comes to arting. Why? Because that negative bias will force us to focus only on the bad things about our work ad nauseam and compel us to overlook all the good things. Indeed, our piece may have dozens upon dozens of wonderful aspects to it, but only that one problem area will stick out to us more obviously than anything else. Argh! So just bear that in mind when you fixate on your errors — what’s a more fair assessment of your work if you stopped focusing on them?

In that spirit then, get back into the classroom! Do some research and experiment and put ideas to the test. Until you really start practicing tangible R&D with goals in mind, you won’t progress towards your potential as quickly as you could be. Just remember your work will never be as perfect as your vision, but you’ll get to a point where it’s good enough — and that’s pretty dang good!

Conclusion

Always remember that if your piece isn’t where you want it to be in comparison to your vision, you have to start somewhere, right? And that is first seeing exactly where the two don’t sync. So your ability to see your errors isn’t such a bad thing, is it? No! It’s the beginning of progress, isn’t it? Of course! Yes, frustration is to be found in the gap between your vision and what your hands actually produce, but the fact of the matter is that gap is exactly what you should understand the most in order to make forward strides. So talk to yourself more like a helpful mentor or teacher, not like a bully who wants you to quit. Be kinder to yourself, a better guide for yourself, a better partner to your vision and your art. You deserve better.

And never forget that if you’re doing it right, you’ll never be truly satisfied with your work. You’ll always want to do better. That will take you where you need to be with your art though not necessarily where you want to be — and that’s okay. The journey can be unpredictable and uncertain at times, that’s part of the adventure! Just be sure not to dwell on outside validation, on being accepted. Conventions are meant to be challenged, especially your own, and evolution is meant to happen. And the thing is, as your art develops, your learning curve will have its ugly stages, too. Yes! There will be times when nothing you touch turns out right, when your vision is so elusive, you wonder why you’re trying at all. This is normal! Every artist has struggled with this at some point in their career! It’s part and parcel of the journey with learning curves. The trick is to remember that when this is happening it’s because your skills are developing and may be developing unevenly as different skills do. So just keep at it and they will sync at some point. But just keep at it! Don’t quit! And don’t think you’re failing your vision. You’re doing better than you think on a journey without end, full of convoluted detours and side quests. Enjoy it for what it is, not what you think it should be to avoid disillusionment.

Focus instead then on baby stepping your way to progress and breaking down your vision into attainable goals. Absolutely, when you create situations that set you up for success rather than failure, you’re not only going to come closer to your vision, but you’ll be happier in your creativity and learn more to boot. In this way you honor your vision and in so doing you honor yourself, too. Because never forget: Your vision is really a manifestation of you, too, of your whimsies, wishes, and dreams. And just as your art is so special, you’re pretty darned special as well! Cherish your vision and you cherish yourself, and what better expression of your vision is that?

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing.

Making your unknown known is the important thing.” 

– Georgia O’Keeffe

Vision Conniptions: Managing Our Mind's Eye In Art

Pop n' Glow: Waking Up Your Paintwork With Color

Introduction

We’ve all seen them — those exquisite paintjobs that are ablaze with a luminosity and glow that just seem to radiate from within. They’re “lit up” with color and it’s glorious! What’s more, they have a “cleanliness” to their colors, a clarity that furthers the overall impression so beautifully and makes the piece really stand out as only great paintwork can do. They also have a depth, a richness that draws you in, enticing your eye and inspiring your senses. These pieces own their space, don’t they? They snatch your heart and hold it, capturing your imagination and wowing you with their singular beauty. And this effect can be made to be so subtle and sublime, too, it doesn’t have to be “in your face,” existing on a spectrum of possibility. Indeed, even the darkest black bay or most monochromatic chestnut can be made to glow with smart color strategy!

Even more though, these pieces also seem more realistic because they better match life’s coloration and the impression of a healthy “clear” coat. The artist just seemed to be able to target those authentic colors so closely that our brain suspends disbelief and for a moment, becomes convinced we’re looking at a real horse.

So how do these artists do this? How do they create paintwork that “pops” so beautifully while still remaining realistic? How do they achieve that glow without looking like carnival paint? What do they do to inject luminosity and cleanliness into the pigments without looking day-glo? Welp, it’s all in the colors you choose to use in your mixes and a keen understanding of color theory! That’s the trick, in a nutshell! So to learn how we, too, can create such splendid paintjobs, let’s talk about this powerful approach to kick our own work up a notch or two! Let’s go!…

Put White To Sleep

It’s an easy assumption: Just use white to lighten a pigment. This is called “tinting,” adding white to a color to lighten its value. However, when it comes to horse color, this is often exactly the wrong way to lighten many horse colors like bay, chestnut, black, and other clear coats. Why? Because the use of too much white in these colors creates an over-tinted, “powder puff” effect that sucks all the glow and luminosity out of the paintwork. Unless you use it very carefully then, white is the luminosity-killer so if the color you’re painting isn’t white-based, veer from white to lighten it. Examples of white-based coats are many dilutes and dapple grey. Why are they white-based? Because whites are usually needed to provide some body, some “opacity oomph,” to a “parent” transparent color. For example, for silver dapple, we often use Raw Umber and Burnt Umber and blacks as the parent colors, but we need a touch of white to add opacity to them since they tend to be so transparent out of the tube. Grulla is another example of a white-based color only because the parent colors you generally use — Raw Umber and Burnt Umber and blacks — are so transparent. Pearl, champagne, isabella, and others are also examples of white-based colors for this reason. So in these white-based colors, you can use whites to lighten your colors, albeit strategically and carefully to avoid a powder puff effect. 

But just as much, too much white can over-cool a color which can veer it away from what your reference is telling you to do. You can use a warm white such as Antique White, or make one yourself by adding a gold or brown, but just be careful that the warming agent doesn’t also cause you to veer away from what your reference requires. Indeed, in this way, tinting can be tricky business! Infusing white into your pigments is always a delicate balancing act. So overall, use white just enough to add opacity oomph to your transparent pigments and if you go beyond that to add a highlight, be tactical and cautious. We don’t want to cool things down too much or lighten things too much beyond our reference, or powder-puff our paintjob into stylization.

Now as for the clear coats, they’re often a different story! We’ll get to them in a bit, but suffice to say, surprisingly, you can use white to add that opacity oomph to them, too, since many of those parent colors are transparent as well. But be conservative here — use just enough white to add opacity to the pigments and no more or you’ll end up with a powder-puff bay or chestnut or black. But this is often how you achieve those creamy chestnuts and bays, adding some sort of tinting pigment to your parent colors. You can also add a bit of “pop” to a black this way by giving your black shading a “place to go” if you start with a charcoal instead of a straight black. And it doesn’t have to be white per se — it could be a grey, taupe, unbleached titanium, buff, etc. Just something with white in it.

Point being, don’t automatically reach for the white when you want to lighten a pigment. White definitely has its place and it’s a powerful partner for your paintwork, absolutely, but it needs to be wielded with a keen understanding of color theory. Generally speaking then, white is better used as an opacity-enhancer and tinting-agent rather than as a go-to for adding highlights or glow, especially on those clear coats. There are other colors that do a better job at that while avoiding the powder-puff effect, which we’ll discuss in a mo’.

Give Black A Nap

Likes whites, blacks have their place on our palette, too. Indeed, they can be essential for certain colors such as dapple greys, buckskins, grullas, and bays, for example. But the trick with straight black is this: It kills color. It doesn’t just darken them…it kills them. What does that mean? Well, it erases their luminosity, saturation, and glow, and it can muddy up a color faster than just about anything. It just kills the nature of a color outright. And it’s powerful stuff — just a dab can kill in a heartbeat. So use blacks with tremendous caution and only with certain colors if you’re wanting to darken a color. Why’s that? Because blacks can also shift colors towards green or blue since many blacks are biased in that direction. Like try to mix Ivory Black with a yellow and you get a greenish mud, definitely not what you want for your golden, glowing palomino or rich, dusty buckskin! Indeed, it’s why that transition between the black leg and the buckskin body can turn green in inexperienced hands. 

Different blacks also have different properties. For instance, Ivory Black is very transparent and has a blue base whereas Mars Black is more opaque and has a brown base (it’s also very powerful in a mix). Likewise Bone Black is a more opaque, very warm black that’s brown-based (being made from the charred bones of animals) while Lamp Black is more transparent and cool blue toned (it was originally made by collecting the soot from oil lamps). Then there's the cool Perylene Black with a very strong green base and, finally, Carbon Black (formed by the partial combustion of natural gas) which is the most opaque, strongest black and is probably the most neutral black out there. So with this in mind, not every black is the ideal one for your mix, depending on your colors. Like you don’t want to mix blue blacks with yellows or you’ll get greens, for instance.

But if we want more control in our black use, what do we do? Well, we use color theory to learn how to make our own black, something we can have more control over. Really, if we can make our own blacks, we can shift it easier in any direction so it jives well with our mixes. So how do we make blacks? Easy! A common way to make a black is to mix a dark cool blue like Ultramarine Blue with a warm brown like Burnt Umber. This creates a rich, deep black that allows us to adjust the temperature as needed. Other options are Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna or Red Oxide or Alizarin Crimson or Terra Rosa or Burnt Umber again. In essence, you mix a deep blue with a reddish brown and boom…you have a black you can adjust. But also try blues with Raw Umber for a very different type of useful black that comes in handy in certain situations. Another common way to make a black, a more neutral, natural one, is to mix your primary colors — red, yellow, and blue — together (not in equal portions, mind you, go easy on the yellow). For a more novel way though, try Phthalo Green and Quinacridone Violet or Alizarin Crimson.

So the takeaway here is this: Don’t necessarily reach for blacks if you wish to darken your colors as it can kill those colors or shift them well away from your intentions. But if you do reach for them, know the properties of the black you reach for when considering your mix. What’s more, learn how to mix your own blacks for maximum adaptability that’ll really help your palette enrich and glow up.

Wake Up, Pigment! Breakfast Is Ready!

So if white and black aren’t always the best answers to our problem, what do we do instead? In other words and right to the point, how do we brighten our browns without white and how do we darken them without black? And that’s the $64 question right there so let’s get right to it!

Let’s say you’re painting a chestnut, or a palomino, or a bay. How do we wake up those colors without using white? Well, we use primary colors and secondary colors, that’s how! We use yellows, reds, and oranges to add power to the paintwork, highlights to the high points, and glow to the pigments. I won’t endorse the use of Cadmium colors as they’re toxic (use with caution and follow all recommended precautions!), but that’s the intensity you need to go for when finding substitutes. Like real yellows, reds, and oranges…the ones that make your eyes melt. Why? Because they provide the brightness necessary to wake up the glow as a high note and give you plenty of room to dampen them down or cleanly morph them within mixes. Indeed, you’ll find these colors immensely useful for lots of mixes if you know color theory! Indispensable! Just be sure to get a cool and warm version of each, like a warm yellow leans towards the reds such as Quinacridone Gold, Hansa Yellow Deep, Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue (the hue is different from real cadmium, being the nontoxic substitute) and a cool yellow, which leans towards the greens, like Lemon Yellow, Hansa Yellow, Nickel Azo Yellow, etc., for instance. A warm red leans towards the yellow and orange end of the spectrum while a cool red leans into the blue and purple end, for example. But lastly, orange is a lot harder to categorize as a warm or a cool color but very generally speaking, a cooler orange leans into the yellows while a warmer orange leans into the reds.

Now you can use these colors in mixes in any number of ways to get the target colors you need, and being so bright, they give you a lot of “room to work,” a lot more possibilities to mix towards. Like let’s take that chestnut example — let’s say your basic red chestnut — what would we use to create a highlight color? Well, we could use a warm yellow and a warm red and mix them with Burnt Sienna or Red Oxide for a highlighter with loads of pop. Bam! Or for a palomino, ease up on the red and lean more into the yellow. Whammo! Or for a bay, lean more into the oranges and reds or golds. Bang! The point is, if you want to maintain the clarity of your colors, you have to use clear, clean colors to brighten them. So think about how reds, yellows, and oranges factor into your target colors to get the various hues you need within mixes, don’t just think about your earth tones or what we’d call “horse colors.” Think beyond the browns! Just be careful of how the temperatures mix so you don’t inadvertently create an unintended tone. Like mixing the cool Nickel Azo Yellow with the cool Raw Umber will yield a greenish shade which isn’t suitable for most coat colors (but may be very useful for hoof color, palmar foot coloring, or dirt staining — every color has its place). But you know, try it anyway! You can always warm it up with a red for a lovely kind of unique brown.

Okay, then that said…how do we darken our browns without using black? Easy…color theory! Or more specifically, complementary and tertiary mixes! Just as those bright colors wake up our palette, knowing how to mix complementary and tertiary mixes helps us to slumber certain colors. The main point here though is this: You get these dampened colors through mixing, that’s the key. Sure, you might find a suitable dark color straight from the tube at times, but chances are, you’ll have to mix one most of the time. The good news is that a host of browns are easy to make with all sorts of color mixes so you have a lot of adaptability at your fingertips in this! So say, for that red chestnut, how do we create a shade color without using black? Well, take your Burnt Sienna or Red Oxide and mix in a complementary color to its red base, something like Ultramarine or Prussian Blue, just a bit, just enough to darken it, not overpower it otherwise you’ll create a black. But hit the right proportion, and that’ll create a lovely dark brown. Or for a variation, try Pthalo Green or Hooker’s Green for a cooler brown, more like a Raw Umber. Or even if you mix oranges and blues, you’ll create a host of lovely dark browns. This also works great for bays, this using blues and greens to create dark browns, so try it! But again, be mindful of your color temperatures to avoid creating mud, so mix cool with cool and warm with warm to avoid creating a muddy brown. When you start mixing together cool and warm is when you tend to get your muddy colors.

Now for that palomino we need to use “kin” colors, or darker colors in the same family as our base color of medium gold. So for example, take Raw Sienna and deepen it with a warm brown like Burnt Umber or Van Dyke Brown. You can mix it with Raw Umber, but that might be too cool and it’ll need a bit of warming up with some Burnt Sienna or Red Oxide or Terra Rosa. Or you can mix up a warm brown and mix it with that gold to get a gorgeous deep gold for your shading. The point is, black will turn that yellow green which we want to avoid so use dark browns instead as a darkening agent.

So how to lighten a brown without using white? If you notice, when you mix white into a brown, you get a taupe, beige, grey, or even a greige rather than a lightened brown. That’s the tinting power of white at work, something we want to steer away from if we want to lighten our browns. So to do that, think about using yellows, oranges, and reds instead to “pop” the color just like you did for highlights. Like adding a warm yellow to Burnt Umber renders a lovely warm lighter brown, for example. Or adding a red to Burnt Sienna really cranks it up a notch, or adding an orange to Terra Rosa makes that color really rev up more. The point is, think about using color rather than white to lighten your browns and you’ll find that your results are often much more on target and much more glowing.

Now granted, there will be times when that touch of white or touch of black will be called for to match a color or to give some opacity oomph to your mix. If that’s the case — do it. There are no real hard and fast rules with color and Nature because, to Nature, color is just color! Really, as long as you’ve matched your color, that’s all that really counts!

Taking On The Day

Now if you want to dampen your whites for markings and patterns for a more natural look, opt away from using blacks to darken them as you’ll get greys and that doesn’t quite work. Instead, opt instead on using taupes, greiges, beiges, or even a bit of raw sienna into your whites to tame them down. You want to catch that warmth of the underlying flesh in a sense, and the reds coming from the tan component can do that for you. What you want is a “dirty white,” not a grey or a beige or a tan, so just a touch of a “browning” agent will do.

On that note, don’t knock mud! Muddy colors can be magical and just the ticket to the color needed! Remember, to Nature, color is just color! And so we should have no prejudices, either. Indeed, we can think of classic silver dapple and champagne, even mushroom and some pearls, as specialized mud, and the same can be said of some liver chestnuts and brown bays. Mud can also be instrumental for the palmar feet, hooves, chestnuts, and dirt staining. So know how to mix an effective mud as well because muddy colors are found on horses a lot more than we think at first glance!

Now for flesh colors for pinking, they run the gamut because of individual variation and the level of exertion the horse is enduring which would get the blood more to the surface. Even the temperature that day can affect how pronounced pinking is as can how short the coat is, whether naturally shed or clipped. So pay attention to the situational details when considering pinking. Any which way, some handy ways to mix up flesh tones are at our easy disposal. A quick way is to mix Burnt Sienna with Titanium White for a basic “flesh” color. You can add in a bit of reds or yellows, even oranges, to shift it any direction you want. You can mauve it up with a touch of brown, too, even a teensy touch of blue can spin it into the necessary direction. What you want to do is avoid a flesh tone that’s too-yellow, too-orange, or even too-red. Flesh has to be within the “flesh bubble” to read right, so practice mixing it if needed. Likewise, avoid pinking that’s “too hot” as in too pronounced for the situation depicted by the sculpture; pinking is often best when it’s on the subtle side. However, as you know, on the muzzle and on the “parts” pinking can be more intense so don’t be overly timid there. Now if you’d like to mix up your flesh tones from primary colors, that’s fun and easy to do, and gives you lots of control in terms of manipulating the temperature and tone. So the trick is to create a starter hue, usually a peach color. We do this by mixing a red and a yellow together with a white. You can add more red for a warmer flesh or more yellow for a cooler flesh. If you want to lighten it, add white (flesh is one of those colors that’s best lightened with white rather than another color) and if you want to darken it, add a touch of burnt sienna or a teeny bit of blue. Or for another mix, try Burnt Umber, Titanium White, a warm yellow, a warm red, and a warm blue. To lighten it, add white and yellow or to darken it, use Burnt Umber and blues. Adding in more reds and yellows will make the flesh color warmer while veering towards the blues will cool it down.

Then for pigmented colors for dark skin, think about mixing blacks with taupes, or with browns and whites to create an array of greiges and charcoals. Or simply take your homemade black mixture and adjust it with a touch of white to grey it up a snidge. See the thing is, if we base our dark skin on a dark greige or charcoal, we have “room” to paint in shadows with black for eyelids, the lip line, inside the nostrils, etc. whereas if we used just straight black, we wouldn’t have that opportunity to add depth and detail. And dark skin can either be a warm charcoal or a cool charcoal, depending on the individual and coat color, so pay attention to its temperature, too.

Now certain colors like champagne have a purply-greige thing going on with their skin, a light grey-brown with a lavender cast. This can be tricky to mix to stay on target, but think about adding a bit of brown and a touch of red and blue or just straight up purple to your grey mix to hit it.  Likewise, many double dilutes like isabella have a darkish brownish pink or brownish peach skin which is easy to make by mixing your flesh tones with a touch of browns to deepen it a snidge. These mixes can also be adjusted for temperature as needed as individual variation in that department can play a part in that color story, too.

Now hooves can be a rather surprising source of color use! They really aren’t just black and white to make grey for dark ones, or “shell” color for pale ones. There’s often a lot more going on with them if we really pick them apart. Like look for greens, purples, blues, and browns in dark hooves and greiges, golds, rusts, greys, and browns in pale hooves. Hooves can also shift from warm to cool on the same hoof or between feet and horses, so look for that aspect, too. So say, for dark hooves, start with a basic grey and then add in necessary colors to hit your target. For instance, take a black and a white, and mix them together then paint your hoof. Now add a touch of a yellow or gold to a portion of that mix to green it up a bit to add some shading and color shifting to that hoof. Then consider browner mixes, blacker mixes, and bluer mixes on the same hoof, melding it all together with careful brushwork. In the end, your hoof will have a lot more depth and believability than simply being painted in just a black and white series of greys. As for pale hooves, you can mix Titanium White, Burnt Sienna, and Raw Sienna together for a basic “shell” color. Then make adjustments by adding in various colors to create those subtle tonal shifts like adding in browns, greys, blues, yellows, even oranges and greens, all of which work together to add complexity and depth to your pale hooves.

Conclusion

See, the options and possibilities are wide open when you’re able to paint beyond whites and blacks! When you understand color theory, in particular, a host of beautiful browns, greys, golds, peaches, fleshes, tans, rusts, and other horsey colors are all within your grasp when you work beyond white and black, so stretch for that gold ring! Using color to wake up color isn’t only highly effective with more beautiful results, but it’s also fun and fascinating, making your painting experience that much more interesting and exploratory. Mixing paint becomes a series of fun discoveries in a sense, and you’ll soon find your favorite mixes for certain things like hooves, palmar feet, chestnuts, pinking, etc. (Recommended reading: A Cacophony Of Color: The Magic Of Unlikely Pigments)

And make no mistake, having a varied portfolio can be important as well as fun. Like when all your pale hooves look exactly the same, that kind of habit veers away from realism, doesn’t it? Each pale hoof is different, and so should be our painted feet. Or when all our pinking is the same or when all our bays are carbon copies, not only are we falling short of our own potential, we’re also missing out on a fuller expression of reality with all its cool options. If we want to capture that genii in a bottle then, we have to not only See color in life but we have to know how to manipulate it on our palettes, too, and then — and only then — can we come closer to reality in our paintwork. 

It’s also so exciting to work from an inspiring reference and then be able to match all those colors much more precisely! Our confidence builds, our moxie increases, our inspirations compound, and we stretch ourselves ever further in our skillsets and expectations, allowing us to progress a lot faster and more effectively. In other words, knowing how to use color not only improves our paintwork, it accelerates our improvement in unexpected ways as only it can. It feeds our motivations and inspirations with a hefty dose of curiosity and excitement and gives us the tools to realize our visions with more authority and authenticity. If there was ever a way to wake up our painting skills, effective color use would be it! So get those colors out of their proverbial bed and get them fed a great breakfast of know-how then put them to work — we can’t wait to see your bright-eyed and bushy-tailed colors in action, full of glow and gorgeousness!

“All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.”

— Marc Chagall

Pop n' Glow: Waking Up Your Paintwork With Color