Planning a Painting Series with a Worksheet

'Winter Memories'            12x12           pastel           ©Karen Margulis
sold

 I love a plan.  I can't help it.  I like to know in advance what I am going to do.  I actually enjoy the planning process. Take a vacation for example.  You pick a place to visit and in anticipation you make your plans....pick out lodging and potential attractions and restaurants and activities.  Part of the fun of a vacation comes in the planning.  When you get there you have some idea of what to expect and things to do. Sure you might be spontaneous and go 'off the plan' but you will get a lot more from the experience with some advance planning.

A painting is like a trip.

If you know what you want to paint and why you want to paint it you will have a better idea of what you need to do to get there. I remember Richard McKinley saying "If you don't know WHY , you won't know WHAT."  I love that!  Making a plan for the painting will help us clarify our ideas. And like a trip you can deviate from the plan but at least you had some guidance.

My problem is I can never remember all I should do for a good painting plan.  So I designed a worksheet to help me remember.  It is my PAINT with a PLAN worksheet.

Paint with a Plan Worksheet

This is a two page worksheet that I use whenever I want to get serious with a painting and make a solid plan.  It includes questions to ask yourself before starting a painting and blank places for your thumbnails, value studies and color studies.  You can decide what format best expresses your idea as well as work out values and colors....all your plans all in one place!

Taking a few minutes to fill in the worksheet  before picking up the brush or pastel can prevent a lot of potential problems.  The bonus is you end up with several possibilities for  paintings which can easily be used for a series.  I used my planning worksheet to come up with the compositions for several winter sledding paintings.....one plan....four paintings!

Would you like to try a planning worksheet?  I am making them available as a PDF file in my Etsy shop for 99 cents. Download and print them out for your own personal use.  I use these handouts in my pastel classes and I am happy to share them with you! Click here for the worksheet information

color study for 'Up the Hill'     3x3    pastel  sold

'Up the Hill'    11x14  sold