The thing that trips you up will almost always be unexpected. It won’t be the sky or figure you feared. It will be something small and stubborn. If you let it, that tiny snag can hijack your whole painting. But in painting, as in life, perfection is a pernicious mirage that can keep us from trying or finishing anything.
The ugly side of perfection
We talk about perfection as if it’s synonymous with beauty. It isn’t.
Think about the strange results of extreme cosmetic surgery: tight faces, overfilled lips, pneumatic breasts. Enormous sums of money are spent in our culture chasing youth. And yet, we gravitate toward faces etched with experience and humanity: Corrie ten Boom, Mother Teresa, Georgia O’Keeffe.
We value bravura brushwork in part because it photographs well for social media. Quieter virtues like solid drafting, subtle value control, and compositional integrity might be dismissed as dull. But bravura without structure is just noise.
Cultural blind spots in painting
One of the great conceits of our times is that modern ‘rational’ people have fewer blind spots than our benighted ancestors.
We are all the sum of our upbringing and our culture. That includes aesthetic preconceptions. We think we’re being objective when we judge art, but all judgments are freighted with assumptions.
In the studio, blind spots can keep us from seeing real problems. For example, we value color but denigrate drawing, so we polish color harmonies while ignoring bad drafting. Sometimes we can’t see the issue at all, because it doesn’t fit our internal narrative of what matters.
The moment
The goal is not perfection in the abstract. It’s getting as close as we can for the moment of that painting. It might stretch over hours, days, or even weeks. It’s the point at which the painting coheres under the specific conditions in which it was made: skill level, materials, emotional state, light, deadline and more.
The real danger is not imperfection. It’s failing to recognize your achievement in that moment. If you keep telling yourself, “I suck,” you’ll never get better. You’re trying to fix something that ain’t broke. That usually means turning a resolved work into a labored one. Instead, set it aside and see what it tells you in a year.
The four paintings I included in this post are all examples of work I thought failed at the time I painted them, but that I quite like today.
A painting exists as a success or failure within its time and context. Your job is to nurture it into clarity, not force it into something it was never meant to be.
One minor variable
I am making my daughter’s wedding dress, and was recently tripped up by something I never thought would be a problem. I’ve worked with tulle and beading before, but I’m using a ‘new to me’ sewing machine. The pearls kept catching, so I kept stopping and clipping them farther from the seams. What I expected to take an hour stretched into two days. Despite my great care there are pinholes where I nicked the tulle removing pearls. Which means a fine mending job.
That happens in painting, too. A small, unanticipated issue can derail momentum. You can’t eliminate all variables; you must accept that they’re part of the process.
Perfection in painting is impossible. But presence, discipline, and the humility to recognize the moment of enough? These are always within reach.
Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:
- Advanced Plein Air Painting | Rockport, ME, July 13-17, 2026
- Sea & Sky | Acadia National Park, ME, August 2–7, 2026
- Find your Authentic Voice in Plein Air | Berkshires, MA, August 10-14, 2026
- New! Color Clinic 2026 | Rockport, ME, October 3-4, 2026
- New! Composition Week 2026 | Rockport, ME, October 5-9, 2026
Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:
Of the four I quite like Brooding Skies. It’s real, been there kinda feel. A photo could never do that.
And wedding dress. I have made 2. And have sworn them off. Not to jinx you cause hopefully it is just my curse but neither of the unions survived. Even though I poured all my best wishes into them, it was not enough. Not to discourage but it touched a nerve.
Very best wishes for you and the union.
It’s not a curse, and I don’t take it as anything more than a reflection of the state of modern marriage. About 40% to 50% of marriages in the United States end in divorce, which is a terrible statistic, in that it represents pain and upheaval for everyone involved.
I’m enjoying the sewing challenge, because it’s something I love that I haven’t had room for in years. But I have been gobsmacked by how often things I thought I understood have gone sideways.
Perfection in painting exists in the mind of the beholder and initially that is you the painter……have you said what you wanted to say? is it expressed on the canvas and are you finished or taken the painting as far as you can go with your skill level? All questions the plein air painter is faced with in each painting. Usually there is a time limit like the sun going down or a rain cloud coming in….give it your best shot in the time you are given and then let your painting exist for you initially to see and later others can also enjoy this moment in time caught on canvas in THIS painting! Perhaps there will be a second painting to resolve the issues of the first or enhance them but the first is a testament of “trying” which is brave and a voice that is fresh and explorative for the world to see. Enjoy! It is God’s gift to you the artist. He allowed you to paint and it is a real privilege being able to express yourself and share in this way! That is perfection!
As for pearls, the gift of love sewn or de-sewn into a bridal dress is what matters, evidence of time well spent! With the goal that it will hold together too! ☺️ Evidence that nothing is easy in this life and marriage is one of those lifelong adventures that we take with care. Precision and love ❤️ are there as we grow into the person or spouse that enhances ourselves and the other! A great feat and often the greatest work of art we can give this life aside from the raising of a child and in so doing bringing new life into this world.
God’s peace and love to the bride and groom in their lifetime of years ahead!
Well said, Julie, and your remarks about marriage moved me to tears.