Last night I went to my regular Thursday night painting workshop to paint from the live model with my artist friends. When I got there late, the others had set the model and had already begun. I saw the model was nude and reclining. As a rule, nude or reclining is never a problem. The problem was I was not in the mind set to paint a nude or one reclining. I usually bring several sized canvas never knowing what I'll need. This night, due to rushing to get there, I brought one canvas and an inappropriate sized canvas for reclining figure. My choice was either go home or try and use my creativity and come up with a solution. My initial enthusiasm about painting had diminished by the situation I now found myself. But I was determined to not let these factors deter me from painting. All the "good" spots were filled by others except one spot way on the side. If I chose this angle I would be faced with a strong forshortening problem to figure out. Also the light was coming from the same direction with limited shadows on the form. I happen to like to paint with strong light and dark areas. Faced with no other options, I placed myself there and started to think of how I could make the best of a bad situation (in my mind at least). The interesting thing that took place was I had to start to think about what to do and how to create something interesting. If I had arrived there early and had the right canvas size, I would have placed myself in front and ended possibly with a mediocre painting. As a result of having to leave my "comfort zone" I created what turned out to be a very interesting painting. One good enough to exhibit. Since all these factors forced me into an unfamiliar place, I also had nothing to lose. I chose to play with color. I didn't settle on normal flesh tones that might have developed had I had a better placement. I keyed all my colors away from reds and went into more greens and yellows for flesh tones. The results were better than I could have hoped. I forgot one important danger in painting. Routine. I had fallen into a routine and my work was showing lackluster results. I had fallen into a rut of doing the same thing again and again. The lesson for me is don't always take the same road. If it feels good, maybe you should make it a little uncomfortable, be a little off balance. I had a wonderful painting teacher who once told me if you're feeling dull and stuck in your painting, get into a deliberate mess and try and work yourself out of it. Use the wrong color, put too much paint down too soon, change brush size, change mediums. The mind is forced to rethink everything that is usually done and the creative process, along with your training, will pull you through as it did for me last night at my regular painting session with my friends.