The art gallery owner who told me my digital pieces were too clean

Last spring I showed a small collection of my digital landscapes to a gallery owner in Portland. She said, 'You have no mistakes in these, and that is why they feel dead.' I thought she was just being harsh, but she pointed out that my layers were too perfect, every brush stroke calculated. Over the next two months I started leaving in stray pixels, odd color shifts, and one unfinished section on each piece. I sold three of those 'messy' pieces at a local show last week, which is more than I sold in the entire previous year. Has anyone else gotten feedback that seemed wrong at first but actually fixed their workflow?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige16612h ago

Whoa, wait, she actually pointed out specific flaws on the spot? That's wild! That's such a specific burn but I love that it actually worked out for you.

kellygrant12h ago

Three months later she used that same critique to renegotiate her whole editing contract, total game changer.