I get the impression that many artists from experience know pretty well what each pencil or brushstroke will do.  They’ve mastered their particular medium, and they can create without too many surprises.

Every so often,in the artist forum, I read about artists talking about the Comfort Zone.  This mastery is what I think they mean by it.  Very little surprise, a perfect drawing or painting every time.

Sometimes I see people advocated to leave the Comfort Zone, take risks, and see the results.  Most of the time people are thrilled with the results.

For me, I don’t think I’ve ever found the Comfort Zone.  I still experiment, and maybe at this stage of my career that’s wrong….I should be working for a more consistent style. Most of the time, anyway, I’m pleased with the results.

However, not being in the Comfort Zone,experimenting and taking risks can also lead to failure.  Learning to accept this is hard, one wants to succeed all the time.

So it is with the large version of “Sunny Chair Paradise”.  I plan to do it over, more consistent with what the small sketch looked like.  As for this piece, I’ve put it aside, to see if I look at it later, I can salvage it, or that I like it better.  For now,it’s a dud, and it’s not worth the effort to photograph it.

Such is life.

Here is an example of another time I took big risks, and wasn’t sure I liked the results. I still don’t know if I do.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s called “Creativity”.