Every Painting is an Experiment

Just a quick post here as I have 5 minutes to spare after being at a talk by renowned UK artist Maggi Hambling this afternoon.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the talk as it was really about her latest book but it was a very entertaining  talk and I did buy one of her books afterwards.

Anyway, one thing that she said that hit a chord with me was (and I think it might have been something that someone said to her) that every painting you do should be an experiment otherwise it all becomes a bit boring and repetitive.

I thought about this and how right she was – the more we experiment the more we learn and hence the more we improve (usually, even if it is 1 step back and 2 forwards!) so that is a mantra that I will try and take on in future paintings – whether it is just adding in something new or trying a slightly different technique or new colour combinations I guess there is always something new we can do.

I have a lot of materials that could be used in some kind of experimentation in future paintings so I don’t think I will be short of things to try!