Many of my students and fellow painters ask me "how did I get from this to that?"

When I’m out painting en plein air (or in my studio), once I have my idea and have taken a “mental snapshot”, I rarely refer back to the scene. I focus more on what my painting needs rather than creating a replica of a scene.

The same for studio painting, especially from photographs (and when on location); the scene and your photo are merely your inspiration - your idea must come first.

​The same for studio painting, especially from photographs (and when on location); the scene and your photo are merely your inspiration - your idea must come first. 

Faithfully producing a scene, en plein air or from photos suggests the painter has to find the perfect scene. Yes there are plenty of perfect scenes but can you find them when you want them? probably not - jolly annoying.

The serious painter has to make do with what is in front of them - we have to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. 

The point of this blog post is to remind ourselves to be not so precious about painting every little detail, every little nuance - paint your idea, turn away from your subject - stop looking and just paint - enjoy the process of painting the flower or the picket fence - focus on your painting!! if you have a photograph, turn it over, paint your painting and use your artist's license!!

My painting Bait & Ice (Thames NZ) has won many awards and is not very much like the scene itself. Comments from collector's all say "this is just how I remember it!"

ciao cari pittori!!

Edited from original post April 2018 in Lucca Italy
 
Ciao a tutti!!

​I'm back in Lucca, my home away from home, preparing for my watercolour painting holiday workshops. This morning I set out to surprise my dear Lucchese friends and while we chat over coffee I became overwhelmed with a huge wave of "I must paint right now!". Not quite organised for plein air painting, a quick value sketch on site will help me understand and remember shapes and values, what I see and prepare me to paint in my studio. 

My non-so-secret strategy works for any subject, any style and is relevant to design principles from any school of thought.

​I've mapped out some processes to help you get started on your own plein air sketches.

Once I select my subject, I use a soft pencil with a seriously sharp point (I sharpen my pencil several times during my sketching process), I sketch a light "frame" - the size of a credit card - remember this is a value sketch to understand the darks, lights and shapes, you can create a masterpiece sketch later, this small study is purely for the purpose of getting to paint quickly - my key thoughts are:

1. quick
2. nasty
3. dirty
4. loose
5. and rough!!
6. :)

Sketching AND painting!!

Next I lightly mark in a grid of thirds vertically and horizontally, each intersection is an optimal focal area.

I'm thinking 5 big shapes with values assigned - no detail at this point - so, for my subject today, my 5 big shapes are:

1. the sky
2. the roof as one big shape
3. front of the building
4. foreground
5. porta (doorway or entrance) della Piazza del'anfiteatro
6. oooops, i forgot an umbrella or 2!!

I used my pencil to measure angles - always have a new pencil on hand, it's hard to measure angles with a stubby!!

Now that we have 5 (6) big shapes, first rule of thumb is to forgive yourself for blunders you are about to make, say it out loud "this is the way I want it!!" :) tomorrow you'll do another version and it will be different again because you'll be a different person tomorrow with a different view and a greater skill-set.

2nd rule is to think BIG, Medium, small - in other words VARIETY is the spice of life!

3rd rule is to make INTERESTING shapes - no squares nor circles, odd shapes are best and no shape the same size next to each other, this is more interesting for you as an artist and also for your viewers and collectors - always something new to look at and wonder "why did she do that?"

There's a lot to think about and we've barely got started!! mamma mia!!

While we're here lets block in a light value tone around white areas just to get our heads in the game.

Build up your sketch by giving each shape a darker tone from the shape next to it, it's a good idea to have shapes overlapping so use your eraser to steal back lights/shapes where you need to.

Consider leaving "WRONG" marks, don't erase them, they add character  -  PLUS, I don't know about you, if I erase a wrong mark I can almost guarantee I will make the same wrong mark again!! I think that's why I got to the point of not erasing and I have come to enjoy the marks that make a sketch full of character and life.

While I'm sketching I'm positioning darks against lights and lights against darks, especially in the focal area, then I can think about possible detail shapes ... 5 for a small sketch, 7 is stretching it for this size - thinking silhouette shapes only!! To satisfy my itchy fingers I often make a list of goodies to add to my painting later. In this case its pot plants, tables and chairs and people, copper downpipes, chimneys, electrical wiring, pigeons, bicycles, signage etc, etc.

I hope you enjoy sketching value studies, with practice you will get better and quicker. I'd love to hear how you get on!!

cari amici!! xx

​"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.

ciao cari pittori xx

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!