23 February: Progress Not Perfection

Artist’s Journal - February 23rd, 2021
Progress Not Perfection

Early sketch for She Rises by Tia Sunshine Art

Last year at this time, I was reading The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed.

The position of art today is like that of a river where many tributaries meeting at one point, suddenly turn the steady flow to turbulence, the many streams jostling each other and the different currents pulling hither and thither. 

After a time these newly-met forces will adjust themselves to the altered condition, and a larger, finer stream will be the result. … The hope of the future is that a larger and deeper art, answering to the altered conditions of humanity, will result.

New ideas tumble around together; this disrupts the comfortable, tossing everything through a whitewater ride of fractures and cooperation until they once again reach still waters. There, they have to make the choice to either float comfortably or dig the paddle into the depths and push toward the next challenge.

Progress, not perfection. This is true in both artistic practice and culture.

That is life and art.

In my studio last year I was adding details to She Rises. Creating folds of fabric that are meant to look like both a gown and also the shadow of purple mountains. I did some planning, but even my planning was very intuitive. That is what Speed’s book has been about - finding that balance in form between structure and intuition.

Here is the finished painting:

She Rises original, 12x18" mounted on a cradled wood panel: $375
Limited-edition prints available to Studio Update subscribers

I’m currently working on another artwork with a similar feel, Calm Between the Storms.

Great things are only done in art when the creative instinct of the artist has a well-organized executive faculty at its disposal.

My thanks to Carrie Brummer (the artist I featured on February 21) for the suggestion to read The Practice and Science of Drawing. I am always excited to find new ways to grow in my art. If you have any recommendations for what I should read next, or if you’re interested in purchasing any of my art, send me an email at hello@tiasunshine.art, or find me on Instagram or Facebook.    The best way to stay up to date with my artwork is to subscribe to my monthly Studio Update.

Tia Sunshine