Even if you aren't a football fan keep reading! I came across a quote from a football player that applies to art as well as football. Really! It makes perfect sense. Read it below and think about how it can apply to painting.
Planning for a painting is not always fun. Once something inspires us we are often impatient to get right to the painting. Doing a thumbnail can slow us down....or so we think. Taking time to plan the painting will actually save us time in the long run. Planning is the '
unspectacular preparation'. But planning pays off. Often with some
spectacular achievements such as a painting we are really happy with! Preparing for a painting gives us a roadmap to follow. We can then let go and paint with passion.
I took about 20 minutes to plan today's painting. It began with finding one of my plein air studies from my trip to Ireland. Got excited about the scene and decided to make a larger studio painting of these rose covered dunes.
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| my 5x7 plein air study |
Next I went through my photos and found two photos I took of the dunes. I printed them out. I took out an index card and my value markers and did a quick 4 value thumbnail sketch. I still wasn't ready to paint. There was one more step to my preparation.
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| The plan for the painting....4 value thumbnail and reference photos |
I took a few minutes to go through my big box of pastels to choose the palette for my painting. I arranged the pastels by element in the scene and placed them in a tray. Now I was ready to step up to the easel and paint! The preparation wasn't exciting but it helped me paint with more joy and confidence!
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| Selecting my pastels before I start the painting |
1 comment:
I so enjoy your posts and have learned so much from your blog and Patreon. I’m good with the thumbnail and value study, but really struggle with pulling out colors for the palette
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