(For this week's Tip, I decided to brush off and spruce up one of my blog posts from several years ago.)
Let's switch gears a bit and take a look at our work habits. No matter our style of painting or our personality, our painting process to move along more smoothly if we practice just four simple
tips:
- Do quick idea studies before beginning to paint.
- Squint, not just once, but often throughout the process.
- From time to time, turn the piece upside down to check how the composition is working.
- Stand back--often.
Call them scribbles, gesture drawings, concept drawings, preliminary sketches--the label doesn't matter. What does matter is that we get
involved with the subject we've chosen before we begin to paint it, and that we explore a few composing options while we are becoming acquainted with the subject. It is surprising what we see once we make the first quick sketch.
Here are a couple of idea studies Andrew Wyeth did for his painting, "Karl."
Nine times out of ten, it's the details of the images that get between us a good composing. To squint at the subject, not
just once, but often from beginning to end switches our attention to the structure of the whole thing, showing us how darks are connected, how lights flow from one area to another, how colors fall into a simple value range. And squinting at the painting itself enables us to see how the parts are fitting together and how what's happening within the painting is relating to the subject matter. It's as crucial to the overall process
as the brushstrokes themselves.
Here in my little painting "Looking Back", we can see what a squint would reveal in both the reference and the piece
itself.
TURNING YOUR WORK UPSIDE-DOWN
Periodically during its development, turning a painting on its head can tell us volumes about how the composition is working.
Oddly, if it's working right side up, it will work upside-down. Here's one Pat Weaver's paintings, Race Track. Notice how her composition works both ways.
We can't see much of how a painting is developing unless we put some distance between it and ourselves. Several times
during the process, it's good to stand back at least ten feet from the painting to see how the whole thing is coming together. The larger the painting, the further we need to stand back. Even very small works are better seen from some distance.
With all the things we're giving attention to while painting, it's easy to let slide the more simple things we can to do to keep check on
what's going on. If you're not already practicing them, I recommend these four tips as keys to better composing and stronger painting.
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