Last Sunday, thousands of artists around the world were treated to more than six hours of celebrating master artist Richard Schmid whose physical presence we lost last year. Artists who worked closely with Richard for many years shared how he helped them find their own individual voices and flourish in their unique journeys. And that's the theme that kept surfacing: Richard wasn't making little Richard Schmids
out of them. Rather, he was showing them practical ways to work from within their authentic voices. One of those skills that Scott Burdock repeatedly emphasized is "squint and compare."
Richard's 2013 "Nasturtium Sketch" is typical of how honing that skill contributes to amazing results. Do you know how to
squint? It's not an exact science, although we do it automatically if suddenly we're encountering a bright light. My practice is to close one eye and squint with the other until I can't see any details. Some folks tilt their heads back and allow their eyelids to drop. Nearsighted folks can just remove their glasses. Each painter must discover what works
best for them. Thing is, squinting is one of the most important things you do, not only in the beginning of a painting, but throughout the process of making it. But it's no
good if you don't know how to use it, and that's where comparing comes in. By making comparisons (NOT judgements), you discover all sorts of relationships in your subject that otherwise, you might overlook. For starters... • Compare (while squinting) the locations of the fields of shadow
and the fields of light. That's your major value structure • Compare (while squinting) the degrees of value you see within shadow areas and within light areas. That's your value variation.
• Compare (while squinting) the shifts in color you see, how a yellow green can shift to a bluer green, or how an orange can shift into a red on the same flower. That's your hue variation. • Compare (while squinting) the color you are mixing with the color it juxtaposes in your work • Compare (while squinting) the stroke you make with the strokes around it
• Stand back often and compare (while squinting) the progression of your painting with your reference. These pointers are just to get you started. One kind of
comparison can lead you to others. There is no way to anticipate what you're going to see, so take an attitude of looking for what's there. WHERE AUTHENTICITY COMES INThe
practice of squinting obscures the noisy details that are likely to interfere with the painter's ability to see the most important structure of a subject. The details themselves are icing on the cake, but without that structure, they fall flat. But squinting without comparing can become altogether meaningless. That having been said, one of the things that enables an artist to express that authentic voice is their response to seeing through their own eyes rather than through the eyes of others. Squinting and comparing enables that authenticity because what you discover is received by
your eyes, then expressed by your response to it. Now THAT is a beautiful thought! Enjoy a fun weekend making using intangible tools! During my Language of Painting series, I explained the role of our visual elements. If you'd like to review those roles to better understand the behavior of elements, here are the links to each of those
discussions: Color --Value -- Shape -- Texture -- Size -- Line and Direction
You can access the archive of all my newsletters (as well as the Quick Tips and other stuff) at any time by going HERE.
|