10 Reasons to Keep Your Ugly Paintings
“Geeeezeeeiz that is fugly!”
Or some iteration has come out of your mouth at least once in your days as a artist. Then the next thing you know, the painting you’ve been lovingly working on is cast aside on its way to the recycle bin.
The joy of emotional clearing aside, there actually are some great reasons to keep paintings you’re not happy with. Other than begging the question: why are we so hard on ourselves? What we perceive as ugly paintings give us an opportunity to be even more creative!
So here’s five reasons I think you should keep your ugly paintings, and another 5 ideas on what to do with them.
5 reasons why you should keep your ugly paintings
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Are you being too harsh a critic on yourself? Perhaps the painting isn’t as bad as you think it is. Maybe you are attempting a new medium or style and there’s something more that can be done or learned from it? Instead of tossing it, tuck it away for a couple of weeks and then come back to it. You might be surprised
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Is the painting actually ugly? Or is it at the “ugly phase”? as a watercolorist, I can tell you they all go through one. So maybe it’s just having a little moment it needs a time out in the corner while you work on something else. Come back with a clear mind and keep going and watch it come back to life again.
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Don’t want to work on it anymore? Consider using it as a time capsule. Future you is going to be pretty excited to see how much progress you’ve made. Plus you can leave notes on the back with what you used, Was going on in your art life at the time, what you feel you went wrong. And if you’re like me, leave a little love note on the back for some feel good action when you look at it again.
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If none of the above are working for you, flip it over and do another painting, drawing, sketch or study on the backside. If you’re working with canvas pull out the gesso and you know what to do.
5 ways to upcycle your failed art
When you have decided even obi-wan can’t help you now, pull out the canvas knife or the paper cutter and try these ideas:
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create abstract note cards
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use the white space for colour testing
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cut it into pieces to repurpose- great if you are a collage artist
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give it to the kids to play with or donate it to a preschool
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use it as the prettiest to-do / grocery list anyone has ever seen!
Regardless of what you do with your old or ugly paintings, remember one very important thing: all artists at all levels need to make mistakes! Mistakes give us the opportunity to learn, to play, to gauge our progress, to develop new skills and styles and to understand that we are perfect exactly as we are.
It’s my hope that you can take these moments of frustration and despair, flip them on their darn heads and instead enjoy some creative, fun times with your old ugly paintings.
If you do, or have any more ideas on how to repurpose or upcycle them, let me know in the comments.
Wondering how you ended up on an artist’s website reading about supporting your mental and emotional health?
If we haven’t met yet, hey hi!
My name is Tanya and I’m a non-traditional watercolorist who loves to play with paint and make videos about it. I also really love to share art & culture related content, promote and lift up other artists/creative and give you moments of joy and hope. And the best part? Showing you this lets you tap in to those good feelings which shift your body/brain from complaining to contented.
You can find me on the daily on Substack. Where my content is free with this Art Palette Cleanser weekly wrap up and Art Notes once a month. Subscribe for free through your web browser and get your happy delivered directly to your inbox!
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