If you’re like me, you often find yourself in front of a painting where one small section looks awesome, but the rest of it just isn’t working. You save the one part that you love, and paint around it hundreds of times. Around the 107th time, you have a decent painting, but the composition just seems off. It is at this point that you have to do a very painful thing. You have to sacrifice the part of the painting that you love (but that you cannot get to work quite right with the rest of the painting) in order to create a more harmonious composition.

You’d be surprised at how letting go of that one part of the canvas will really help you to improve the overall painting.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not saying that you should always go over the sections of your paintings that you love right away. Let the painting sit for a few days. Just remember that the overall painting and composition is always worth more than that one small section that you love.