A ‘happy accident’ is a term coined by the well known and lovable Bob Ross. It is when one is painting and one makes an accident but it turns out nice and you feel good about it. He would make these happy little accidents when painting happy little trees. He’ll say in a relaxing tone something like “now that’s ok it’s now you learn” or say it’s nice and reassure the process. I really enjoy watching a Bob Ross video every now and then. It’s zen and before you know it he has a full blown museum masterpiece in 22 minutes time.
When going to the museum as a kid I always thought the landscape paintings at the museum would take years to complete. Years to learn, yes, but without the artists doomscrolling X they could have got them done in a month or two I believe. I’ve been working on my painting for a week now and all I have is a gessoed canvas. Granted I’ve been getting a lot done outside of that I still did make progress. I actually made more progress in my art with in just that painting, the that is just a gessoed canvas. How might that be? It was a happy accident.
I had the canvas primed and ready and my painting reference printed out (I learned that from a professional) (hi) and I must have set charcoal on the reference picture or something (what I use to do my initial sketch). Well the picture had charcoal dust on it and I had a breakthrough thought: I could edit the picture a bit with the charcoal. so I added some birds and moved around the composition of the picture. It made a big difference!
Now I can edit all my pictures from have had learning this! Instead of just copying a photo someone or myself has already taken I can improve upon it. This makes a world of difference and makes the piece ultimately more unique, personal, and overall aesthetically better! A happy accident indeed.
I am going to get started on this picture here soon. Finishing up some tidbits in the studio. I have too many sketchbooks to put away!! D: That makes for a sad little tree being pulped for an empty sketchbook. But it will be a happy tree once the sketchbook is filled! Hopes for a happy little week to all.
Bye
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