I am often asked which of my art works I like the most.
Usually the answer is - the last one I made 😊
Still, there are artworks in which something happens that is beyond the understanding that the painting is finished. There are paintings that I complete with the feeling of a "growth spurt". Such a feeling that something else happened there. Something that if I noticed (and also noticed what I have noticed...) it will take me to the next level in my art. And that's exciting.
It happened to me once in a small painting where I liked the color combinations, in another I liked the silence, in another the work on wood, and in the last one it was the particular combination of collage and graphite together with the acrylic colors.
The problem is what happens next.
There may be:
1. Stagnation. A successful artwork may make us fear that we will not succeed in the next one. Like the feeling that from this summit one can only go down.
2. Imitation. We might start immediately a new piece that will try to imitate the previous one, in an attempt to reproduce success.
What I usually do is try to define for myself exactly what I like in the painting (even write it down), put it aside and start the next one. This way I allow myself both learning from experience, while not clinging to it in a way that would deprive me of creative freedom.
Because freedom is the heart of creation.