How to Make your Paintings More Beautiful

'Beauty Among Us'     5x7       pastel     ©Karen Margulis  

I love reading older art magazines. They are filled with tips and inspiration.  I buy them in lots on ebay and browse through them when I have some downtime. I came across an article in a 2011 issue of American Artist about artist Kathy Anderson and I want to share a nugget of wisdom from the article.

Kathy's flower painting are just wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her approach and background. One thing really stood out to me though.  She studies with Richard Schmidt and Nancy Guzik and one of the things Nancy told her  is to "Make every Inch Beautiful" in your painting.
I love this advice!

Using mat corners to check over a finished painting. Is every inch beautiful?

Nancy says she always thinks of this advice when painting when she wants to see what else needs to be done. She says it is about making even the quiet areas beautiful with purposeful color.  It is about every area having something that you meant to be there.  It doesn't mean that every inch has to contain something but it has to be purposeful.  In other words don't just neglect an area or put something random there because you don't know what else to do. Look at it and think about what it needs or doesn't need.

For today's painting I decided to try this idea and I cut some mat corners so I could isolate every inch of the painting and see if I was successful in making it all beautiful!

See Kathy Anderson's work on her website www.kathyandersonstudio.com