Even the master artists of the past made mistakes. None of us are perfect. Don’t let fear stop you from sharing your art with the world.

Kristie and I went to Chicago to renew her passport a few weeks ago. We got there early, as soon as they opened. Once we finished with the first step in the process we had to wait 7-8 hours to pick it up.

I wasn’t complaining. That gave us a happy opportunity to lose track of time while visiting the American Academy of Art.

Van Gogh and Me at the American Academy of Art

We got there a bit before it opened and were amazed at the long line of patrons waiting outside. In a society filled with possible distractions, it sure was good to see others as anxious as us to enjoy a day at an art museum.

I could fill pages and pages with photos of the inspiring beauty and masterful artwork we saw.

Circassian Cavalry Awaiting their Commanding Officer at the Door of a Byzantine Monument; Memory of the Orient 25×21 – oil painting by Alberto Pasini 1880

That, however, is a topic for a different blog post.

Maybe it’s the past 3 years of monthly critiques I’ve been doing with The Master Oil Painting Membership, but even with some of history’s most celebrated artists, glaring design problems jumped out at me.

What a wonderful thing! The best artists from history left design flaws behind. That should give all of us hope.

Imperfections in the Masters’ Works

These incredible artists who have touched our hearts and brought tears to our eyes with the brilliance of their work – they struggled just like us.  Our paintings don’t have to be perfect to touch someone’s life with light and beauty.

Keep in mind – much in design and art is subjective. There really isn’t a ‘right’ way. Maybe the artists put each of these ‘mistakes’ in for reasons I’m just not seeing. Either way, let me show you what stood out to me.

Claude Monet – Boxed in Clouds and Floating Trees

Cliff Walk at Pourville Monet 26×32 – oil painting by Claude Monet 1882

The first one was a beautiful piece by Monet. The warm and cool colors in the cliff shadows and the figures were dazzling. Then the cloud pattern struck me.

Cliff Walk at Pourville Monet 26×32 – oil painting by Claude Monet 1882 (with edits)

Monet created a box with four equally spaced and sized clouds in the upper left. It didn’t ruin the painting for me, but it was definitely a distraction.

Poppy Field (Giverny) 24×37 – oil painting by Claude Monet 1890-91

Moving on to one of his nearby paintings I found myself staring at another distracting element. He painted a floating tree set distinctly in the midst of small dabs of splendidly painted poppies. There is nothing to suggest that the tree is rooted to the ground.

Poppy Field (Giverny) 24×37 – oil painting by Claude Monet 1890-91 (with edits)

It seems to hover like a giant green asparagus.

And according to research, the painting was done partially on location and finished in the studio. Why does that matter? Because it means it wasn’t just a quick on the spot capturing of nature. He thought through the composition and worked and reworked areas until he had what he wanted.

Still, his ability to capture subtle color variations and light is entrancing and inspiring, but it feels good knowing even Monet made mistakes.

Childe Hassam – Misplaced Horizon Line

The Little Pond, Appledore 16 × 22 – oil painting by Childe Hassam 1890

Childe Hassam is another of my favorite painters. His work sparkles with light and movement. He brings seemingly mundane views to captivating life!

So why did he place the horizon line right in the middle of the canvas? Did the painting need that much empty sky?

The Little Pond, Appledore 16 × 22 – oil painting by Childe Hassam 1890 (with edits)

Maybe he felt all the brushstroke action in the lower area needed to be balanced by a large, and equal, amount of quiet space. Cropping the painting to me makes it much more exciting though.

Henri Fantin-Latour – Distracting Angles and Tangents

One final painting that caught my attention was a still life with Rhododendrons by Henri Fantin-Latour.

I was a fan of his work already, but those exquisite flowers took him up higher on my list of favorites.

Still Life Corner of a Table 38 × 49 – oil painting by Henri Fantin-Latour 1873

After pulling my eyes from his masterful flowers I noticed a few inconsistencies.

Still Life Corner of a Table 38 × 49 – oil painting by Henri Fantin-Latour 1873 (with edits)

The most glaring was the frame in the upper left corner. That might be how it looked when he was painting it, but it sure felt awkward. And what happens when something feels awkward? It demands attention.

Why draw attention to something comparatively unimportant? It looks like he is directing the viewer to the signature of the painting in the frame, but to me, it does so at the expense of the rest of the beautifully painted piece. The frame looks like it is jutting out toward the viewer rather than sitting back against the wall.

Next, I noticed that the lower flowers are all arranged on a straight line.

Right above them, two leaves at the top of the plant are painted like wings on a fluffy-headed bird. And the right leaf comes to an uncomfortable tangent with the fruit – almost but not quite touching.

Bill Inman – Light Source Confusion

Yeah, I know, I’m not a historical master. But, if I’m going to throw out jabs at the masters, I thought I should let you know I’m right there with them.

The Dance 30×24 – oil painting by Bill Inman 2003

Breakfast is Ready 24×36 – oil painting by Bill Inman 2012

When I did the blog post about Cast Shadow Length, I used a couple of paintings to demonstrate creating shadows from imagination.

The next day I took a second look at those same paintings to see how well ‘intuition’ fared when it came to the light source direction. Oh, boy – I didn’t pay enough attention.

The Dance 30×24 – oil painting by Bill Inman 2003 (with edits)

In The Dance (above), the aspen shadows don’t all tilt in the same direction. A portion of that could be explained as ground level changes, but certainly not to this extent.

Breakfast is Ready 24×36 – oil painting by Bill Inman 2012

In Breakfast is Ready (above), there’s some odd shadow in the lower left I never noticed before that doesn’t seem to match up with any of the objects or the light source.

Considering how strong the tall tree shadows are, many of the other shadows in the painting should probably be longer and the bush in the middle is missing its shadow.

The tree shadow in the upper right red circle is slanting the wrong direction.

You know what, even with all those glaring mistakes it remains one of my favorite paintings.

Conclusion

Our work doesn’t have to be perfect to be memorable.

Don’t wait until your work is perfect to get it out for the world to enjoy or you’ll never progress. How often do you hear anyone complain about mistakes in Monet’s work?

This was the first for me. Regardless of mistakes, his work will continue to stir my soul.

Of course, I’m still going to pay closer attention to things like shadow direction in my own paintings in the future. But I’m not going to let it slow me down by second-guessing every possible problem, or get discouraged by past mistakes that I can’t fix.

Soul stirring emotion trumps cautious perfection every time!

Sometimes, when we paint with feeling and bravura, we’re going to miss something. That’s okay. Soul stirring emotion trumps cautious perfection every time!

Paint with gusto and throw caution to the wind. If a painting doesn’t resonate with anyone, then look more closely for something you might have missed. Otherwise, keep moving forward and paint your next masterpiece.

Oh, and visit the American Academy of Art – you can’t leave there without being inspired!

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