George the Leaf
There’s an art to making mistakes. Artists can’t become great without a slew of them throughout their career. Mistakes are what teach us to do better, to find a new way, and add a tool to our belt. While I may say this with an air of wisdom well beyond my years, trust me when I say that I know, in the moment...mistakes suck.
Let me introduce George the Leaf. During the first mural that Peak Murals produced, I became very well acquainted with George. I had painted the background of the piece successfully, painted on the main plant after going back and forth on the placement for what seemed like ages, and now the time had come to paint some leaves. Simple, unimportant leaves. I picked my color, and went for it. After outlining the first leaf, I stepped back, and there was George. He was HIDEOUS! Poor George was the wrong color, wrong style, and he looked so out of place on the wall. I mas mortified. So much so that I sent a picture of him to my sister and exclaimed my profound horror whilst dubbing him George. In the back of my mind, I heard my mother’s words that she so often told me throughout college, “Put your paint down, and walk away.” And so I did.
Walking away was something I did frequently in college. I thought one needed to create these flawless pieces of art to create a stunning portfolio in order to get a job right out of school, but that wasn’t the point. We are supposed to build our toolbox, make mistakes, learn from them, make more mistakes, add another skill, and so on. There were frequently days where I found myself stuck, unable to see past the glaring issue of the piece, and took my mother’s advice to walk away. Coming back with a fresh mind minutes, hours, or even days later adjusted my point of view and allowed me to see the path to moving forward. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t stop when you graduate. This realization dawned on me on that cold March day in 2023 with the creation of a simple leaf.
George remained on that wall for hours, even after I came back. As I developed other parts of the piece, I was able to determine what was wrong with him. I changed his style, changed his color, and covered him up. I continued on, creating something the client and I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn’t give George the Leaf a second thought until my next mural, where he appeared again. He showed himself in the form of a pile of books. And then he was tree bark, followed by the shadows of buildings. He shape shifts his way though every mural I paint. Much to my amusement, I have come to welcome his presence. My sister even calls to ask me what George the Leaf situation is happening in my current mural. He’s now a staple in my career. He’s taught me about projecting correctly, the importance of a strong digital design, techniques for painting on different surfaces, and as always, he reinforces my mother’s lesson to walk away when things aren’t going how they should.
I love to invite people to look closely at my murals. Painting small details that invite the viewer in for a closer look has become a fun detail to include in my designs. Today, as I was writing this blog, I pulled up a photo of the completed piece to look at the spot where I had made that mistake. To my surprise, but also with some happiness, I discovered you can still see a little bit of George, peaking out to shine in his own special way! Mistakes aren’t a bad thing, and you may even find one bringing a smile to your face years later.