Why It is OK to Paint Something More than Once

'Summer Buzz'           9x12             pastel                  ©Karen Margulis
available $175

I don't ever worry about running out of things to paint. Inspiration can be found everywhere. In fact it is often difficult to settle down and pick something from the 33,000 photos in my photo files. Even though I have plenty of choices  I find I am drawn to some of the same images again and again. Some images just seem to speak more loudly than others. I listen!

I remind myself that is is OK to paint something more than once. In fact it is a good thing. Often we resist the urge to paint from the same reference more than once. Maybe we feel we need to try new subjects. After all once we have 'done' it what is left to learn?  There is plenty to learn!

• Painting something more than once helps us become intimate with our subject. The more comfortable we are the more we are able to take risks.
• Familiarity leads to more expression. Once we know our subject we have more success with making changes to our references. We can be more intuitive because we are already familiar with the scene.
• Painting something more than once allows us to explore other solutions. We can try new techniques, change paper size and/or orientation, change the point of view. The sky is the limit!
• We learn more because we aren't starting from scratch. We don't need to reinvent the wheel....only improve it!

I was asked recently if I had painted pink coneflowers before. That led me to search thorough my paintings and quickly found several purple coneflowers and one pink. So the answer is Yes!  But each time I revisit this favorite motif I challenge myself to create something new. I enjoy the freedom that this old friend gives me to explore and discover new interpretations.