Making a Judgement Call

by Charlotte Savage

One might think because a person is an artist they should know good art when they see it.  Yet, this is not always the case, especially when it comes to judging one’s own work.  In the late 1990’s Sarah attended senior citizen art classes locally; she also attended a one week seminar at an Elderhostel in Rhode Island for several years. The one thing she learnt from her first experience was that watercolor was a difficult medium because once the color is applied, it’s permanent.   Oil paint she discovered was a medium more forgiving; she could repaint until she was satisfied. 

The second time she attended Elderhostel, the curriculum was mixed media; experimenting with colored pencils, pastels, and cray pas (which was similar to coloring with crayons), and she also became familiar with a color wheel.

“Decide what colors you are going to work in,” said the instructor, “then look to the opposite color on the wheel.  Example, if you were doing an outdoor scene the color of your sky would be orange, the opposite of blue.  If the object is green, color it red.”   Sarah chose a green bench in a garden; she colored the sky orange and the bench red.

At the end of the morning session the two instructors critiqued the students’ unsigned work.  They taped all of them to the blackboard.   Joanne and Isabell, the instructors, critiqued each picture explaining what they liked most about each picture and occasionally made suggestions on to how to improve it.  Then they returned the painting to the person who had created it. 

Finally they got to Sarah’s picture.  They stood on either side of it and asked in unison, “Who drew the red bench?”  Since the question of who painted a picture prior to a critique had not been asked before, Sarah thought she had done something wrong and slid down in her seat not to be noticed.  The student who sat beside Sarah poked her and Sarah hesitantly raised her hand.  Joanne said, “This is a wonderful picture, be sure to frame it.”  Isabell said, “This picture is ribbon-worthy.”

 Though Sarah had great admiration for her instructors, she thought her drawing looked like something her nine-year-old granddaughter would have drawn. After painting in oils, using colored pencils and cray pas seemed childish.  Sarah dropped the picture into the trash barrel on her way out.  Joanne retrieved it from the trash and chased Sarah down the path to the dorm saying that it was too good to throw away.  Sarah put it between the pages of her art magazine and took it home.   A few months later she entered it into an art show and it won a ribbon.

The following week she signed up for a watercolor workshop. She had discovered she could learn something new from every workshop—even if it was not in her favorite medium. However, she didn’t have a watercolor easel.  Looking for a board or anything solid to tape her watercolor paper to, she came across an oil painting she had done previously which was mounted on a solid backing; she could place on her easel. 

 Arriving at the class she flipped the painting over and taped watercolor paper to the back of it and lightly sketched a still life. She was applying watercolor when the instructor announced she would be critiquing their work as they painted.

Knowing it would be a while before the instructor reached her, Sarah took a coffee break.  When she returned she saw that the instructor was picking her painting off the floor.  However, she wasn’t looking at the watercolor Sarah had been working on; she was looking at the oil painting on the back.  As Sarah approached, she heard the instructor ask whose painting it was.   The other ladies at the table said it wasn’t theirs.

“Well, whoever did this painting is certainly not afraid to use color.” said the instructor.

 Sarah responded, “That’s just a quick oil painting I did for a larger painting I am working on. I was going to throw it away, but instead I brought it here to support my water color paper.” 

“This painting is extremely well done,” said the instructor, “I would suggest you frame it.”  Sarah did just that and a few months later she entered it into the International Festival art show and it also won a ribbon. 

Sarah has decided not to throw away any of her paintings in the future and leave it for others to judge her work.  After all, she’s only the artist; it’s the judges who appear to know what ‘good’ is!

©2017 Charlotte Savage all rights reserved