Leonardo da Vinci said: “The painter who has no doubt about his own abilities will attain very little.”
Along the same lines, the art critic Robert Hughes wrote “The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.”
and from Edgar Degas “Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”
… the 76 year-old Monet, whilst painting the Water Lilies related: “I’m in a state of impossible anxiety. I’ve ruined the good pieces by trying to improve them, and now I have to try to fix it at all costs….For the time being, I can’t leave here and I can’t see anyone.”
Break-a-Brush!
David
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“I know very well what I am about and that my skies have not been neglected, though they often failed in execution – and often no doubt from over anxiety about them…” John Constable
Hi David,
This painting seems to have an almost grainy texture. Is that simply because of the reproduction process (photocopy?) or did Constable manage to create such a texture?
Diane
Hi Diane, I don’t have access to a better resolution image – the original’s in a Spanish museum I believe – however it looks to be a combination of dry bushwork and nice impasto effects in oil leaving ridges, possibly the effects of varnish and probably some cracking. This, along with the pixelization of the low resolution image is probably creating the effect. Best, David