Two weeks ago I have decided that I will be doing Radiant Faces. I have put off doing the class for about 8 months now since it started last October. Being afraid for so long will not help me in anyway, it will only strengthen the fact that I am stubborn, inflexible and panicky. I decided this pattern of being afraid has to stop. So, I sat down and got my creative game face on. I started watching the videos from Tamara Laporte, her lesson is titled Inner Child. I am familiar with Tamara’s style and decided that she will be a great help for me to feel comfortable with my first try. I bravely sketched on my 12 x 16 mixed media paper and decided to color my girl with dr ph martin’s hydrus watercolors. I know, I maybe setting myself for unforeseen heartache here since I have not used my choice of coloring material in any project yet. But, I told myself, why not. I will not learn if I will be always on the safe and comfortable side of things. I started coloring the hair using the stippling method that is used with pen and ink. It gave off a great effect especially with where I wanted the highlights. A successful coloring of her hair made me confident to try coloring her face. And this was where one disaster over another came to shape. After trying my luck over and over with recoloring my mistake with a darker color and it did not work, I declared the piece an epic fail. I wrote the words epic fail on the lower part of my paper just so I could force myself to step away from it.
Then after a few days I tried my luck with the hydrus watercolors again. I did a face in a medium sized watercolor journal just for the purposes of practice. This time I think there were improvements and that I did not ruin her face so much just her cheeks.
There were so many things that I learned from these two disaster pieces that I hope to bring into consideration once I make my Radiant Faces – Lesson Two girl. Art disasters are inevitable, its just a matter of acceptance and being brave to start all over again that makes a lot of difference.
Carrie Cordero Designs 
You see them as disasters because they don’t correspond to what you envisioned. I actually think they are both successful pieces. I like the graphic quality of the second piece. There’s something about the distinct patches of the cheeks creating a pattern that actually works. But I actually really like your first piece, the one you abandoned. I saw the image before I read the text and thought how cool it was and how different for you. I like the blotchy splodgey pigment and the area’s left blank. It seriously appeals to me.
So isn’t it peculiar how we respond to our own art because a) we were invested in it in a way the viewer was not and b) we know what our intention was and how far the piece has strayed? I’m the same way.
Oh you truly get what I was saying in my post. And when you said that I see them as disasters because they did not come out the way I envisioned them was so true. I think all artists are the same way and only we could understand each other’s journey. Thank you for the encouragement and for letting me look at my disaster pieces in a different way.