As a painter, or any other visual artist, your most important instruments are obviously your eyes. How else can you tell if your painting’s composition or colors work without, well, looking at it?

Sometimes, though, looking at your painting can be the worst thing. There are instances when you’re in the studio for a few hours, looking at the same painting, and getting super aggravated because you don’t know how to ”fix” it.

When these instances happen, remember to step away from your painting. Otherwise, you’re likely to either waste a ton of paint or just destroy your canvas out of frustration.

So step away, and come back to the painting in the morning. When you come back, you will see the whole painting with ‘fresh eyes,’ and many times you will instantly see what is working with the painting and what isn’t.

Sometimes all it takes to fix a good painting is not looking at it. Who knew?