Successes versus Failures

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop? There's a question that haunted me all throughout my childhood. And now that the fleeting thoughts of my youth have matured into the complicated questions of my adulthood - I am left with a new question: How many failures does it take to get to a successful painting?

I was pondering this on the way to work this morning. I've been in a funk the last week or two and it's really come down to the new piece on which I've been working. Basically, it just isn't going where I think I am directing it to go. Do all paintings have a mind of their own and like a horse you have to break them in order for them to perform as you desire? Is it really that complicated? Or do I just lack any real talent?

I had some really high hopes for the piece and it's just not going where I am leading it - so now I am left to wonder why. The bigger question, however : Is it this way for everyone? How many failures do you have before you get the piece that you've had in your head?

Or is it even simpler than that? When a painter starts on a work, is there no expectation in their minds, no mental picture as to how the piece turns out, or what it is supposed to look like? If that's the case, then I am simply putting myself through far too much worry and overworking the piece until I cannot save it anymore. Maybe my expectations are too high.

I just don't have the answers to these questions. And for certain I am looking to scrape the paint off the canvas, let the skimmed coat dry and simply start over again. And then I think - "Well, what about the next one?" So then I resign myself to putting down the piece until another day - or another month later.

So what now?
Is it like this for everyone?