Failure is the Best Success

In failure come success, this is the one thing all artists should understand about their own studio practice.  You have to fail A Lot to succeed.

Let me share my most recent failed attempt that became one of my most important learning moments.

It turns out I can not draw Gummy Bears!  I’ve tried so hard to accept and include the lovable little guys into my candy series of 60 colored pencil drawings.  This gummy candy we as kids (and as adults!) have all indulged in by shoving handfuls into our mouths (or is that just me?) and savoring each and every gummy, chewy, sugary well ummm bite, I’m drooling just writing about their gummy taste.

I was and still am so inspired by their transparent, reflectiveness and nostalgic quality but saddened that I will never get to experience them in two dimensional bear form on paper. Why gummy bear…….. whhhhy!

Well as it turns out I’ve put my own self up against a wall on this one.!  Like many artists and writers who hit a creative wall, It’s all in my head and this head game I could not get rid of…..  Let me share my 3 attempts with you and my 15 plus hours of drawing that led to no end results!  Uggggg.

1st attempt:  Title, The Tiffany’s of Candy – the Gummy Bear.  

I was so looking forward to this drawing shimmering almost like a diamond.  I must say also, Gummies cast excellent shadows!

6 hours in I became hateful! and more importantly uninspired.  Gummy Bears in all their glow and reflectiveness are not cute – tasty for sure but not cute. Their squished little faces singled out one-by-one into a drawing left me feeling sluggish about my attempts.  No offense to the creators of the Gummy Bear or lovers of these guys, but man no inspiration there!

2nd attempt:  Title, Gummy Bear Gang 

I thought, I’ll change up the content!  This sort of reminded me of the lineup in “the Usual Suspects”.  That’s it!  Nope!

6 hours in and uninspired and asking myself why!

3rd attempt:  Title, there is no title.  It just doesn’t make sense, I’m totally burnt out on trying at this point.  I drew for 3 hours and decided that I wanted nothing to do with GB’s ever again.  The composition sucks!  and the GB’s are not even straight on the page, and this seemed like a good idea at the time.  I give up!

What did I do?  Moved on! I moved on to other subject matters that inspired me.  I learned so much about understanding the need to have pleasure in the content that I am creating.  I understood and accepted my failure and that it is ok to move on, lift your head up and still succeed. Will I try again to draw Gummy Bears, yes I will!

But for now we need some space.

Since My attempts with Gummy Bears I have created these four drawings for my candy series and have found much inspiration in these attempts.

 

Struggle, it’s truly the only way to succeed in the end.  If life hands you Gummy Bears and you’re just not feeling them, remember to move on and enjoy your every experience in other successes along the way.