TEN Things I Learned From This Painting

Dryad in daylight

The summer of 2022 I have been probing various art forms in a quest to find my own, unique style.

Oh my. That's not true! Not at all! I actually know what my own style is. It's always been there, in my music, my clothes, the books I read, the blogs I write - complete with redundancies. It is also in my visual art. What I've really been trying to do is to master my horn; to hone the craft, learn the skills that will let me express that inner artist. Not just the drawing skills and the painting skills but also the pacing skills, the thinking skills, the process skills that will enable my painting skills to let the visions inside me manifest. 

In the hunt for technical skills I've been taking lessons from artists I admire. Ida Andersen Lang is one admired teacher and this September she introduced me to Marie-Laure Delage-Carlson  in Art Soul Gathering 2022, the first of a series of free lessons she sponsored, taught by a variety of teachers.  I loved them all and hope to explore more of their artwork but I had only time to work my way through one project. So, perhaps the 11th thing I learned from this painting was that I have to know I will be free of All Other Claims for my attention before I sign up for anything again. 

I decided, this time, to apply Marie-Laure's steps to a drawing of my own and it roughly followed the same itinerary of every painting I've ever done. There is the excitement. Then the sketching. Then the first bits of painting from which I get up, hating the whole thing. The next day comes the surprising sense of satisfaction followed by more applications of paint followed by the hope of success. At some point I realize this is either going right - and it will be a joy to continue and a sadness to complete. Or I realize it is going wrong and I have to slog it out to the end, always knowing this will go in the reject pile. 

To cope with the disappointment I've begun making a list of 10 Things I Learned from This Failure Painting. (Learn something? Not a complete failure, right?)

So what did I learn this time around? Because believe me, there are other 10 Things lists saved on my computer.  Here are the things I'm saying to myself. The first 8 fall under the category LEARN YOUR CRAFT. The last two are aimed more at my approach to art - and maybe all of life.  

1. Fill up sketchbooks of experiments in texture. Sky, foliage, hair, other backgrounds so I can put down what I want when I want to.
2. Play with metallics. Another thing to do with my sketchbooks.
3. Use that color wheel – and make one with the paints I have on hand.
4. Less is more. In the case of this painting – one tree branch would have said it all.
5. Give as much time to planning out the painting (including the sketch) as you give to actual painting. And make decisions. (See below) If you want realistic – go that route. If you want something a little more fey – let go of the picky details. You can do this.  You’re a Virgo. You love planning.
6. Make a decision about texture techniques first.  This way, if you change your mind, you’ll know why and not be surprised at some glaring conflict of textures. Foliage, sky, hair, clouds, pick the way you’re going to depict them and stick with it. Undecided? Experiment in one of those doggone sketchbooks!
7. Look out for those eyes – so easy to make HUGE. Don’t.
8. Remember – you need extra space between eyebrow and second crease in the lid to create depth. Remember that in the sketch and don’t forget when the brush has paint on it.
9. Fix what you can – accept what you can’t.
10. FINISH every painting, no matter how little faith you have in it. Finish it. Afterwards you can cut it up and use it for collage but there will be no more paintings sitting in time out.

Caveat: Unless I ever decide I want to teach. Maybe 2 or 3 ugly babies are good to keep. I remember how many times I’ve wished I had those first ugly babies I made when I was learning how to spin wool. But honestly – keep only a few. A very few.