Wyeth on Editing His Body of Work

“I do about two temperas a year and only about twenty watercolors are good enough to let out.” 

-(Andrew Wyeth:  An Interview, The Art of Andrew Wyeth, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco,1973.)

Andrew Wyeth, "Woodchopper Study", watercolor, 1964

Thank God for Wyeth’s honesty.   He was a master not only because he painted great art, but because he was wise enough to not show the other stuff.  He edited his body of work.

I’m learning that the best way to produce a body of top-quality work is to produce a lot of work and then select the best of the bunch. Nobody needs to see the rest.  A mature artist knows that most of what he or she paints is prep work for the good stuff.

So if only 10-20% of what I produce is good enough to release to the market, that’s not a problem.    It’s part of the creative process.

Thanks for the encouragement, Mr. Wyeth.