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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Do You Paint with a Plan?

'Over the Dunes'            8x10         pastel           ©Karen Margulis
available $145

I've been told that I am fast and loose. A fast and loose painter that is! It may certainly appear that way but the truth is I am not so much a fast painter as I am an efficient painter. My paintings progress rapidly because I spend time BEFORE picking up a pastel making an action plan for the painting. Armed with a concept, value map and color palette I can approach the paper and simply paint with passion.

A plan allows me to let go and explore without fear of getting totally lost. A plan is my map or my GPS.  Will I get there without a map? Sure, but it may take me a lot longer and may not be as enjoyable. A plan can save many hours of frustration and brushing off paintings. 

Everyone has their own way of approaching a painting. Some enjoy detailed planning and some of us would rather wing it. I am somewhere in the middle with my planning. But there are some 'must do' items.


The finished painting with my plans attached 
 There are three simple parts to my plan. I may spend anywhere from 5-30 minutes planning.

  • What is my Concept?  I always like to begin the plan with asking myself what I want my message to be. What do I want the viewer to see or experience when looking at my painting?
  • SIMPLIFY. Next I do a small 3-4 value thumbnail. I simplify my photo or scene if painting plein air into a few simple shapes and assign each shape a value.
  • Decide on Color Palette and SELECT MY PASTELS. I pull the pastels I want to use and put them together in a butcher tray. This way I can see if there is color harmony. I like to take an additional step in my planning process to paint a small color study. I like to see if the colors I selected work together. I like to use a 2.5 x 3.5 inch format for the color studies. 


Using the small thumbnail to start the painting

Starting the painting with a value block in.
This is just a brief overview of my planning process. I have written more detailed blog posts on these ideas. There is a search box on my blog which allows you to search for more on this subject. Try searching for the word 'planning' to get started. If you get my posts by email I invite you to visit my blog directly to search for more planning articles. www.karenmargulis.com


4 comments:

  1. Beautiful! The hardest part I find is selecting my pastels first! I try selecting about 20 or so and always go "outside the box!" A lot! Every time!!!

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  2. I agree wholeheartedly with Linda! Color selection is by far what slows me down most. I have the analogous color wheel, have made color charts, and yet am always pulled back to local color when painting. I have yet to find in-depth tutoring (start to finish, step-by-step) on painting color studies in a small format. Karen, I would love to see an Etsy offering or even better, a video on just color selection and how to do color studies from start to finish! I would like to be able to determine the "mood" I want for the piece BEFORE I paint it, if that makes sense. Thank you so much for your daily blogging. It's one of the things I look forward to most in my inbox! Rhonda

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  3. I also would like to see a video on color selection: I hear so often something like "I see a little pink in that area" and I look and there's no pink. Or I hear "I chose a different color scheme to change the mood" or "I'm going to add a complimentary color to pop this area" or even "I love this color and want to find a place for it in this composition"...these are all very mysterious to me, and I'd love to hear a master teacher's ideas, or process for this sort of thing.

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  4. This is lovely. You should consider entering it in out juried exhibition! Love your work!

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