Should you continue with a picture you're unhappy with?

Ivana has sent me her picture of the bowl of cherries project she has been working on and has asked for my advice. Ivana writes:

Everything seems too dark although in real life it is a bit brighter. Should I continue? Maybe this advanced project was a bit too hard. The paper is crushed and I'm just forcing myself to do it. Maybe I should do something else, what do you suggest? Any comment is more than welcome.

This is a position that I am sure many of you will encounter so I thought it would be a good idea to share my answer to Ivana with you. My advice in this case would be not to continue with the picture at the moment but put it aside with a view to retuning to it at a later date. My reason for saying this is that in my opinion the picture is not that bad and I am sure with the right frame of mind Ivana will be able to finish it sometime in the future. By taking this action you are not scraping the picture (which would be counterproductive) and therefore the psychological impact will be lessened.I have had this happen many times to students in my art classes and each time when the student returns to finish the picture it works out well. The fact is that when viewing the picture again after a given time it will look altogether different and you will wonder why you felt the way you did about it.I would suggest the Ivana move on immediately to a picture that she knows she will be able to finish, this will restore any loss of confidence that might have been felt by the stress of doing the Bowl of Cherries picture.If you would like to learn how to draw the bowl of cherries and other still life projects. Look into my Pastel Pencil Membership offers starting from just £3.99 per month. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime.