Creativity and Craftmanship

Above is a horizontal painting of cups "In the Valley of the Shadows". The companion piece, the single stack, was commissioned by my client who bought 'In the Valley of the Shadows".
The commissioned stack was finished in January 2008. However, I knew that there was something that didn't sit right with my client.The painting remained "unfinished and undocumented" as she mulled over her unease. We had talked about changing the color of the blue plate (to another blue which I had been considering). But THAT wasn't it. She has been looking at the painting for two year in her home and this year she had a "Eureka" moment. She realized that it wasn't the blue plate that bothered her, it was the original shadow color which I had painted inside the top yellow bowl of the stack. To her, the shadow was too dark and it looked like "mud" in the cup. It made the top of the painting too heavy and weighted it down. And you know, when she brought the painting back to me to show me,I knew she was right. I had been so intent on getting the original visual shadow correct that I hadn't realized it was wrong for the painting as a whole. This is a very interesting case of everything painted correctly does NOT add up to a correct painting. I had released this painting too soon to her. Typically, I will keep a painting hung in my studio for a couple of weeks before I release it, in the even that I might see things that I want to change or that "bother me". I hadn't had the time with it to catch my own lack of judgment here.

My craftsmanship was compromised. When my client told me about the shadow, she cushioned it by saying that she didn't want to insult my creativity because she loves all my work. But I pointed out to her that my creativity (which is personal) is not in question here. It was a matter of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is about having high standards, ability, skilled workmanship, durability and quality. The rendering of that one little shadow was not up to the standards of the rest of the painting. I was so happy that she pointed it out and that I had the chance to correct it. It changed everything.

I can finally sign my name to it.