“This is the hardest part for most people. When you make a mark that doesn’t look right, every instinct says fix it. Wipe it off. Paint over it. Get it right.
“But those “mistakes” are often the most alive parts of a painting. A drip. An unexpected colour. A line that went somewhere you didn’t plan. These are the marks that give a painting its character. They’re the evidence that a human being made this, not a machine.
“I’m not saying you should never correct anything. But try leaving things for a while before you decide they’re wrong. What looks like a mistake in the moment might be exactly the thing the painting needs.
“Some of the best marks in my paintings are ones I didn’t plan.
“If your paintings feel stiff and overworked, it’s because you haven’t yet given yourself permission to let things be imperfect. And that permission is the whole thing.”
by Louis Noble
with plein air artwork by Polly Castor
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