{"id":16116,"date":"2020-01-08T16:21:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T00:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/?p=16116"},"modified":"2021-04-18T16:10:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T23:10:40","slug":"taking-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/?p=16116","title":{"rendered":"Taking Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Impressionistic Peach Roses with Fruit 12×16 Oil Painting on Panel by Winifred<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 I place a high value on taking chances.  In fact, I don\u2019t really believe taking chances is a risk, I believe the risk occurs if you don\u2019t. If I choose a safe path, one I believe will keep me from \u201cmessing up my painting, for sure this will inhibit my growth.  I\u2019m thinking now about  thoughts which went through my mind with these two paintings – both of which presented me with opportunities to “mess up” – but I took a chance anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t find it particularly difficult “to paint what I see” from a reference photo or from a still life I set up.  For the most part, however, my interest is not realistic paintings  – except portraits.  I\u2019m interested in \u201cinterpreting\u201d or abstracting away from realistic visual references. This is much more interesting and exciting for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find this more challenging because it means, I have to \u201cmake up things that aren\u2019t there\u201d.  I have to eliminate part of the content which is there. I have to create elements, colors, textures which are not present.  I have to make up brushstrokes which alter the surface of my reference.  I might \u201cmess up\u201d – I often think as I commence some of my more abstracted or elaborate processes!  This thought regularly enters my mind and I have to pause to “talk” to my mind about it.  \u201cYou can\u2019t mess up\u201d –  I tell my mind. In fact, I tell my mind that imagining\/abstracting new content – new ways to express the elements being observed \u201c is its only job\u201d – and the only way to build new skills, confidence and creativity – no matter the outcome!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0I want to have ideas – receive ideas but to try not to tightly control the process expression. \u00a0By doing this with each painting – even in small steps, I know my creativity and confidence grows. \u00a0I believe both of the above paintings are examples of being a bit “out of control”. It doesn’t even matter whether they\u2019re good paintings or not. The only thing that\u00a0really matters to me is that I\u00a0tried something new which caused some discomfort and I did it anyway.\u00a0I hope to continue this practice throughout this new year. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the saying is – “feel the fear and do it anyway! 2020!!<\/p>\n

Related Images:<\/h3>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 I place a high value on taking chances.  In fact, I don\u2019t really believe taking chances is a risk, I believe the risk occurs if you don\u2019t. If I choose a safe path, one I believe will keep me from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[307],"tags":[375,370],"class_list":["post-16116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traditional-oil-painting","tag-still-life-oil-paintings-by-winifred","tag-winifred-whitfield-oil-painting-still-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2.jpg",492,654,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2-226x300.jpg",226,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2.jpg",492,654,false],"large":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2.jpg",492,654,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2.jpg",492,654,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2.jpg",492,654,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2-492x288.jpg",492,288,true],"large-feature":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2-492x288.jpg",492,288,true],"small-feature":["https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WW-Peach-roses-Fruit2-226x300.jpg",226,300,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Winifred Whitfield","author_link":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/?author=2"},"uagb_comment_info":12,"uagb_excerpt":" I place a high value on taking chances.  In fact, I don\u2019t really believe taking chances is a risk, I believe the risk occurs if you don\u2019t. If I choose a safe path, one I believe will keep me from … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56JFk-4bW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16116"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16322,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16116\/revisions\/16322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winifredsgallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}