Figure Drawing

I read in Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima that his teacher would sometimes scrape off a perfectly good painting he had done, and say something like, "Do it again. Doing it well once could be an accident." I didn't understand that the first time I read it, but I'm starting to get what he meant.

What I like about this structured training I'm getting a taste of is that it is helping me to be more conscious and deliberate about what I'm doing (which can be a little painful, I'll admit). I think that usually when I draw, I just go with my instinct and almost let my mind go. Sometimes I finish a drawing, look at it and wonder, "how did I get here?" And I don't even know (similar to how sometimes you pull into the garage and barely remember the drive home). Drawing on autopilot, I suppose... where when I get a good result, it almost does seems like an accident, something I couldn't reproduce if I tried. So here's to being more conscious and controlled in the future, however painful that process may be.