Sometimes I’m in a groove and my artwork just seems to jump from my mind onto the canvas. Other times, despite meticulous planning and preparation, nothing comes out the way I envisioned. It’s those times that test my resolve as an artist.
In this blog post, I delve into one such challenging project, “Among the Wolves.” From braving the winter cold to capture the perfect background, to the struggle of finding the right wolves for my vision, the journey was anything but smooth. Yet, every setback was a lesson, and every challenge an opportunity to grow. Join me as I navigate the highs and lows of the creative process, and discover why sometimes, our most difficult projects are our greatest teachers.
The Groove and the Grind
Sometimes I’m in a groove and my artwork just seems to jump from my mind onto the canvas. That’s a good day. Everything runs smoothly and the images seem to create themselves. The colors come out perfectly, the proportions are right, and the composition just works.
Other times nothing seems to be working. It doesn’t matter that I spend days on sketches to get the composition that I have in my head down on paper.
It doesn’t matter that I spent weeks shooting all the reference photos I thought I’d need.
It doesn’t matter that I have a definite storyline in my head I want to illustrate… sometimes nothing comes out the way I had envisioned. It is those times that I can spend literally years on a composition and in the end… sometimes… I never do get it right.
Persistent Struggles
This happens more often than I’d like. I have two compositions that fit this category at the moment. I have been working on them for years and neither of them am I happy with. At this point I’m not sure if I should keep coming back to them or simply give up. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever given up on one in the past, so the possibility of me giving up now is remote.
I have heard that your best artwork comes easy. That people can sense it when looking at the piece. I’d have to agree, but there’s always that chance that something you worked that hard on could turn out to be your masterpiece. Besides, my father taught me never to give up so that voice of his keeps running through my head every time I’m ready to give up.
The Easy Wins
My three bestsellers were all easy. That solidifies the adage of “your best artwork comes easy”. Not unlike the two I’m struggling with, they were well thought out, sketched ahead of time to get the perfect composition and the color scheme was determined before even starting the piece.
The Troubled Creation: Among the Wolves
So, what went so terribly wrong with these two. Actually, let’s just talk about one of them since I’m not writing a book, just a post.
This artwork is called “Among the Wolves”. I had an idea of a girl walking in the woods in the middle of winter with wolves around her. To have a connection with the fairytale “Little Red Riding Hood”, I sewed a cape for my model. Not a red one… I didn’t want to be that obvious, but I did like the style.
I then waited for winter and took pictures of the woods behind the barn. The walk was cold and difficult. Snow had just fallen the night before and was deep. I wasn’t sure which lens I wanted to use so I packed a few of them in my backpack and went out on my trek.
The Perfect Shot
I had no problem with the lighting because I had set up my model and her horse to be photographed the same day nearly at the same time. The lighting is so important when putting multiple photos together in a composition. If you don’t pay attention to the lighting between the photos you are using, the composition will always look fake or at least a bit “off”.
My friend’s horse was young. He was a Thoroughbred right off the track a few months earlier and full of piss and vinegar on that cold, winter day. Walking around the paddock with my friend was a bit strange to him and freaked him out. He snorted and spun a number of times. It was hard work for her to keep him in hand, but made for some perfect pictures for me.
Remember, the two of them were supposed to be walking in the woods with wolves around them. A calm, indifferent horse wouldn’t do, so my thought was that I had hit gold with him being so nervous.
I got some wonderful shots, including some with the cape blowing out so there was plenty of action.
The Elusive Wolves
Now for the wolves. Actually, I had been looking for wolves long before I sewed the cape and got the photos of my background, the horse and my friend Dana.
I hunted down a couple of wolf sanctuaries. One, the closest one to me, was closed for the winter. I couldn’t even get anyone on the phone to see if I could get a special session with them. The second one, was still in my state, but much further out was now defunct.
Another year went by. Then, while I was visiting my son in Alabama, I found a wolf sanctuary a few hours away in Florida. I was informed that it was a few hundred dollars a person to visit. Since I was visiting, and it would take the whole day being that far away, I figured I’d take the whole family with me… but not at that price! I wasn’t thrilled about being gone all day and not taking everyone, but I really wanted to get the wolf pictures.
I called to make sure everything would be set for a good photoshoot and found that I couldn’t take photos unless I signed a contract that limited me to what I could do with the photos and paid them an additional $1,000. So much for that idea. This was NOT in my budget.
Settling for Less
I finally resolved myself to taking wolf photos at my local zoo, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. This was not ideal. I’d have to take the pictures through the plexiglass. Plexiglass that was dirty and scratched. And the wolves were small Mexican wolves.
Only one showed up that day. She was timid looking, definitely NOT menacing or even remotely scary looking. She looked more like my neighbor’s dog. But, it didn’t actually go as badly as I thought. I sat there with my camera poised for some action while she curled up in the snow napping. I sat there for maybe an hour before she moved for the first time.
She stood up, yawned, stretched, turned around and laid back down. Ten or twenty minutes later, she got up, walked away from me toward a rock cave about 30 feet away. She made it all the way to the cave, stopped and turned around, then slowly walked back toward me. She found her original spot and laid back down for another long nap.
That short walk was exactly what I needed. I had pictures of her going and coming in a number of different positions. This I could use!
Bringing It All Together
Once back to the studio, I spent a great deal of time going through the hundreds of photos I had taken that day. Starting with the background, I chose a few photos that would make a good background and proceeded to carefully merge them together. I use Adobe Photoshop for all my creations, along with a 24” pen tablet and a variety of brushes so that I can get some very sophisticated techniques that look exactly how I envisioned.
I then picked out the best photo for this composition of the horse and my friend. I lucked out with this because I often have to merge a couple of photos together to get just the right look. So far, so good. This seemed to be one of those “easy” artworks and I was hoping for another best seller.
The wolf pack took a little more time since I only had one wolf to work with. I chose a few photos that worked well together, got them in their positions in the composition and then changed their size and coloring to look like a few different wolves. I had to rework the markings a bit to make it convincing. Making the images much larger in comparison to the original size gave a more menacing look.
The Final Tweaks
Now the composition was basically done. It wasn’t bad, but it was missing cohesion and a convincing story. I tried adding texture and a portal from another world to give it a stronger image. That wasn’t what I was going for, so abandoned that idea.
Maybe it was the lighting? I tried making it nighttime. Better, but still not there yet. So I set it aside for a week or two and tried again.
A little more tweaking and I thought I couldn’t make it any better, so I called it finished.
Another year went by and I pulled the artwork back up in Photoshop and tried again. I added a stone castle-like house in the background, more snow, stronger moonlight, darker background, the list went on. I finally settled on this composition and called it a day.
The Never-Ending Quest
Had to give it one more try a year later. This composition had now been in production for over two years…maybe more. During this last re-do I realized I didn’t need the wolves at all, they were so hidden in darkness that you can only see their eyes…which are totally made up!
Months later, I’m still not happy with it and will more than likely work on it again at some point.
Hope abounds. I’m still looking for it to be a masterpiece.
Although this one artwork may never be, the experience has been valuable. I know more with each piece of art I make. I try different techniques, take more photographs, and find what works and what doesn’t. I solidify ideas and do more research. If you take each and every piece of art you do as a learning experience, it has value to you. The biggest value may be that your next artwork will be the masterpiece you’re looking for.
Call to Action: Share Your Journey
Have you faced similar struggles in your creative journey? Share your experiences and let’s learn from each other. Comment below with your stories, tips, and any advice you have for persevering through artistic challenges. And if you enjoyed this post, consider sharing it with fellow artists who might find inspiration in knowing they’re not alone in their struggles. Let’s build a community that supports and uplifts each other in our artistic endeavors!
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