Beginning At The End
Friday, 4 November 2011
The legendary, Greenbay Packer’s football coach, Vince Lombardi, whose name adorns the most prestigious prize in football–the NFL Super Bowl’s Lombardi trophy–said of the difference 
between a good coach and a great coach…
“a great coach knows what it looks like when it’s right.“
This brings to my mind the artist’s age-old conundrum of knowing when to stop, or better put, “how do I know when a painting is finished” or “when it’s right”. Lombardi’s words could easily be rewritten to say, ”a great artist knows what it looks like when it’s right”.
An important factor in knowing when to stop is knowing where to begin and then staying focused throughout the process. It’s the idea of having something to say, from the beginning. If I know what it is I want to say at the start, if I know my aim and I don’t lose sight of it, then I am more apt to know when I’ve reached it. I find that when I lose sight of where I want a painting to go, of what it is I want to say about a particular composition, that’s when I overwork a piece, I flounder.
Lombardi also said,
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time…Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him.” (My emphasis) “It’s something we call heart power. Once he has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
