So you think you can paint!

[Alexandra Tyng]

Sharon, I just wrote you a long response and my AOL service was "interrupted" before I could post it! GRRRRR!

The jist of my long-winded post is: It sounds as though you are trying to break through to the "next level" in your work.

I've gone through periods like that, too, when nothing seems to be working, and I desperately want to paint better so I can be as good as this artist or that artist!

For the past few years I've been taking more time to paint outside and from live models. Usually I feel I'm working and working and not seeing any improvement, and then one day I look back at things I painted two years ago and I suddenly see a big difference.

The things that might help are sometimes the very things you don't feel like doing, like changing your way of using color, changing your medium, changing from portraits to landscapes. I think this was already suggested. If I force myself to try something I've been putting off trying, or I've been scared to try, it usually helps. If you are really honest with yourself and take the time to realize what you need (because we all need something), that might lead to some breakthrough!