A Night at the Tate: to Share or not to Share?

We’d love to be constantly enchanting our Instagram followers with posts of our highest quality work. But the truth is, the creative process can take unpredictable turns: we research, sketch, try new mediums, edit … and we end the day with less finished art than we’d like. What to do in the meantime? Should we share the messy, unfinished, frankly not so good work that happens in between the good stuff? 

Last night, I decided I would.  

Seeking a place to draw, I passed a Starbucks and a cheery pub in favour a quieter spot: the 1840s room at the TATE Britain. Having sighted a mother and daughter contemplating Sargent’s “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose”, I started to sketch them from behind a large easel. But the ladies soon moved on, and I turned to the real reason I was there. 

Truth is, I confessed to the paintings hanging on the walls, I’m hear to ask for your help.

The canvases, who’d been quietly chatting with one another, glanced up, and I resisted the temptation to rip my sketch off the easel, as Waterhouse’s Saint Eulalia said:

“Well, for one thing, don’t just settle for the first composition that comes to mind! Turn it on its head. Show it from a more interesting angle!” 

Turns out the Pre-Raphaelites & Co. aren’t such quiet company after all! I gulped.

“You worry that your drawings lack movement? Well, don’t. Look at Burne-Jones, for crying out loud!” joked another, as he rifled through my portfolio.

“I disagree,” retorted a smaller painting on the oppostie wall. “The key, my dear, is to present your scene in medias res. Capture the action as it unfolds!” he insisted. 

At that, the great Ellen Terry cleared her throat.

“Actually,” she said, “it all depends on the nature of your character. In the case of Lady Macbeth, for instance, a statuesque pose can be… extremely powerful.” But in the silence that followed, a little sigh escaped from the confines of her gilded frame.

Your arms must have the worst case of pins and needles ever! I sympathised. 

But my hour had slipped away, and the museum was closing. I’ll have to go back another time to see what Sargent’s little girls among the lilies have to say.