Better paintings

How do you start a painting? I guess there are as many methods as there are people, but one sure thing is that all of us are faced with a blank canvas to start with. In reading a book called 60 Minutes to better painting by Craig Nelson he asks that we make quick studies to help boost our skills. Here are a few quick paraphrased thoughts from Nelson.

1. Painting quick studies will help you break inhibitions you face when faced with a blank canvas. 2. Get rid of that by learning not to be afraid of making mistakes. It's in making the mistakes that we learn the most.

3. Learn the differences between line and mass. From our earliest memories we have all drawn with pencil, crayon or pen. Generally, when we draw anything, we start with lines. This, however, s not how we see. We see mass and forum; therefore, mass and form is how we must paint. Lines are a shorthand for painting.

4. Your brushwork is often like handwriting - very distinctive. The way in which a painter uses his brush is much the beauty of a painting. 5. Learn how to see.

A painter must learn how to see in stages. They must not see the detail first, but see the larger more basic images before studying the smaller and often more interesting areas. It is important to train your eye to see in the proper order so your subject can be approached as if it were a painting.

6. Don't procrastinate... what is the sports slogan? Just Do It. If you concentrate on just creating a study rather than thinking you have to complete a painting or else, you will free your creative mind and then you can go on to a more refine painting if you like.



Photo: Spring at the Gardens Restaurant, Callaway Gardens. You are welcome to use this photo as a painting reference, Phyllis Franklin.

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