HOW DO YOU PAINT A PAINTING?

Many times, when friends and family come into my studio while I'm working on a painting, they stop and look at what I'm working on and ask, "How do you do that?"

My knee jerk reaction is usually to counter, "How do I do what?” because the question is so broad. Their reply: "How do you know what you're doing? I don't know how you know what to do."

For me, making a painting is a process. And though it may not always look that way, I can pretty confidently say that for most artists, their work is a result of a process as well.

I'M GOING TO KEEP IT SIMPLE

I can't give you the benefit of my many many (many!) years of sketching, painting, and creating in one article, but I'll tell you the one critical thing about making art that I've always told my kids and grandkids, and that is this: 

the most important thing is observation, and the most important parts of your body when making art are your eyes.

What do you see? What do you envision?

I ALWAYS START WITH FLOWERS I LOVE

I can't make a good painting unless I love what I'm looking at. Last week, I found these luscious pink peonies at Trader Joe's! I took them outside to get some good sun on them in several different arrangements, and when I found an angle I loved, I shot a whole bunch of photos. I mean a whole whole (whole!) bunch of photos. Peonies open quickly, so I wanted to make sure I captured the blossoms in their different stages. I don't usually paint from life - I prefer photos because I like to paint over several days and photos last longer!

THEN I BLOCK IN THE SHAPES AND SHADOWS

The initial sketch gives me a place to start, and the shadows help me to anchor my subject. I've placed these peonies in the center of the painting but I don't usually do that - it worked out that way because of the strong shadow moving off to the bottom left, and the sweep of the single bud going off to the top right. I love that movement and action, don't you? I try to get movement into all of my paintings to show the grace and energy of the flowers. That strong line also gives the viewer's eye a place to enter the painting. So exciting when working on a painting to consider these things!

WHEN I'M DONE, I'M DONE

Another question I get asked a lot is, "How do you know when a painting is finished? How do you know when to stop?" For me, it's when I finally love the painting enough to walk away. I've ruined plenty of paintings by overworking them and not being able to recognize this critical point in painting. 

But it's there if you stop long enough to look for it. There are plenty of ugly stages in my paintings when I just hate them and need to nurture the love back into them. And I have also learned to recognize the point when I can say, "Painting, I love you enough now to say, 'You are finished!'"

I LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK

I hope this article has been helpful to you. The next time you see a painting you like, maybe you'll think about the artist's process, and how it might have been created. My goal is to bring you closer to experiencing art in any way I can! 

I love your comments and feedback about my work or the content of my articles, and you can do that below!

And, I sure do appreciate you taking the time to look at my work, and to forward it to other art lovers.

This blog is published every other month or whenever I remember to do it. I promise not to spam you, but only to inform and introduce you to my new work. Please forward to other art lovers. You can subscribe in the link in the navigation bar above. And of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Questions? Please email me. I'd love it.