PaintBox Tip #16 Stop Waiting!!

​"I keep wanting to get photos of those sheds, but always seems to be wrong time of day,  wrong tide or wrong weather for stopping. Or... we use the road on the other side of the estuary!"

This is what happens if you paint photo realism or you are too dependent on photos - you're probably sunk because you are waiting for ideas to happen.

Ideas don't just happen - artists, scientists, engineers, poets, musicians MAKE IDEAS HAPPEN.

We don't have time to wait.

The ugly truth? No matter how long you wait, you will never get your perceived "perfect photo"
the weather will be crap, the light will be wrong - whatever! This is really just another form of procrastination.

There's 2 solutions:

1. stop and paint or sketch anyway
2. take the crappy photos when you are there - from 50 angles, zoom in, zoom out - what we really need is resources and reference shapes. 

Set your camera to hi-res.
when you get your horrible photos home, pick out the ones with the stuff you need and start doodling and sketching on a big sheet of paper.

make lists. Sketching is an idea generator.

HOMEWORK:

1. Always have your camera and sketchbook with you, see my tool list for sketching out
2. Plan your next possie to stop and sketch, make sure you are comfortable.
3. What did you notice? What did you discover about yourself? What did you learn?

ciao cari pittori xx

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I discovered this scene on a road-trip to Wellington. For a few minutes it had great light, then it was gone. but not only that I couldn't zoom my camera in enough, I'd been driving all day and hadn't found my accommodation yet. no where to sit and soak up the ambiance so a little walk around the bay and a few quick snaps. Photos were terrible but quite a bit of information once I zoomed in. 
I've seen many paintings of this scene and thought - wow, how boring - everything straight and lined up - how dull. What can i do to make this more exciting and engaging? I spent quite a lot of time doodling and playing and getting my head in the game!