Do you know the difference between painting by formula and painting by observation?
Formula painting requires that you memorize a way of doing and adhere to it. It assumes that once you've mastered the formula, you'll
do beautiful work thereafter. So, if you want to learn to paint roses, you can master a formula for "how to paint roses", then paint zillions of roses that will awe your viewers--for as long as you want to paint roses.
Using the same formula, you can use different colors or different placement, but always get a rose that looks like a rose--the same rose.
Observational painting requires that you learn how to look and what to look for. It assumes that the same rose
might look different in late afternoon than it does in the morning, or that fog or rain or snow might change its appearance, or that your location to it will give you a different view, a new set of shapes. (Okay, I know: the examples below are not of the same rose, but I hope you get my point.)
The difference is that when you learn to paint by observation, you communicate rose, yes, but you also communicate the life in the rose as you see it in that moment and from that point of view as well
as how you feel about it. And you do all of this unintentionally just because you're focusing on something other than the rose while observing: You are focusing on the characteristics that create what you are looking at--shape, value, color, texture, size, line, as well as gradation, contrast, movement and so on.
LABEL A THING AND YOU INSTANTLY NEGATE IT
The most beneficial skill you can develop as an artist is to learn to not label the thing you are painting. It is there. You know
what it is, but so long as you keep telling yourself what it is, you will block your eye's ability to see what makes it appear as it does. We see what we focus on. The downside of formula painting is that it keeps your attention on the thing itself and the formula, rather than the image's changeable characteristics.
FORMULA PAINTING MIGHT HAVE ONE BENEFIT
If you are able to take the skills from a formula, forget the formula altogether, but use the skills to interpret your observation, then
that formula has served you well. But if you get locked into the formula, you might get rave reviews from your peers, but you'll miss out on the thrill of growing as an artist.
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