I walk everyday and on my walk my mind wanders more than my feet. I was thinking as usual about my painting day ahead .Thoughts about what I would be doing and it dawned on me. Each new painting is like a puzzle to be thought through, a real challenge for the mind.
The first thing to decide is the composition , what is the focus of the painting what do I want to lead the viewer to? So I need to sketch the subject and think about the tones within the piece. Do I want lots of colour? Do I want the painting to be true to the subject or go off piste? I need to remember where the paper needs to be kept white or where I can flood the paper with water...
Then here is the real puzzle how do I get the painting to look like how I want it to look? I have weapons in my armory, I know (kind of ) what will happen if I do certain things , but the first time I paint anew subject I have a puzzling time ahead. A time to experiment ,a time to discover new things. For example the first time I painted a zebra, I had no idea that cerelean blue would be a great colour within the stripes to add light.The first time I painted a bee I worked out that I wanted the black to merge with the yellow to create the fuzzy bee look.I could go on .....
Then once I have a new painting done I like to try it again was it a fluke? Can I produce similar or better effects when painting another bee or zebra? Can I use these new weapons on other pieces?And some times my painting doesn't work I can't do what I want and I have to puzzle out another way round.? I also spend time looking at other artists work puzzling out how they have acheived their paintings..being a kind of watercolour detective....
You see it never gets boring just a new puzzle everyday
1 comment
I have learned so much from your posts….mostly to just try….try anything, experiment, play, have fun! Thank you for being so generous with your time Rachel. I wish that you gave lessons…I would subscribe in a heartbeat! I do appreciate all the “how to’s” though…every single one!