Thoughts From Marsha

A Thought for the Day!

It is funny as we work on our painting what can happen so I would like to call them studies instead of paintings! 

I am changing things as I go along, and things happen that were not planned. This reason alone is a good one to stop and ask questions many times during the study's progress.

I was telling a student just a few days ago to write down the steps they are doing when working on a "work in progress.". It sounds a little like a "busy" work exercise, but it works in ways you can't imagine.

Yes, I am telling you always to have your sketchbook nearby and write things down! Make notes during the progress of your painting. There are thoughts we have, and then they are gone. Don't let that happen. I will make it a practice for myself to be a little better at keeping notes while I am painting!

We get to a point in a study that is nearly done... at least we think so. 

We stand back and assess what we have done and wonder:

• Is it finished?
• What is good? Or another way... what do I like?
• What do I think could be better? Or, would I like to be different?
• Do I like the design I have used?
• Have I included contrast somewhere?
• Is this high key or low key, or somewhere in the middle?
• Are the colors harmonious?
• Have I created bookends on each side? 
• Is the study split in the middle either vertically or horizontally?
• Is it what I was trying to say?

These are a minor number of thoughts and questions, and there are many more. Ask as many questions about the work in progress as you can. These questions are just a few off the top of my head that I ask myself when looking. Some of these items and many more can sneak up on you while in the painting progress and maybe were not there in the laying in of the elements. 

I mentioned changing what I call this "work" to a "study" or a "work in progress" because it takes some of the pressure off while working. It allows us to make marks for the sole purpose of seeing if it is what I want to try. No judgments can be made until something is down and tried.

There was a statement I heard many years ago that is something like the following: "A stroke laid is a stroke played!" It means don't go back and fiddle with the stroke. Make it with confidence. And, I remember thinking that it is all well and good when you "know how to paint." This comment was earlier in my career! I was still learning. 

The thought in that last paragraph is meant to help you not make a stroke until you have thought it through. It means you need to back up and make a decision about the next couple of strokes. 

With the insight you gain from stepping back more often and writing down thoughts, you will gain the ability to manipulate the medium you use, compose your work, and make better value and color choices.

Writing things down during your progress is a method to slow you down and make you back up to assess your work "in progress" instead of waiting until the end.

Back up more often, and also write things down more during the progress!