Prepping for the painting

 Painting prep

First and most important there are NO RULES in painting. There is however, suggestions to help become successful with your paintings that have been discovered in our Art History. There is known pleasing design concepts to keep in mind. But you are the artist and you are in charge. Keep in mind the suggestions but you are not married to them. Give yourself freedom of expression in your work.

When preparing for any painting, it is wise to do the prep. Some artist who are familiar with painting and have been doing it for awhile skip these steps. That's ok. They have the experience to draw on to make it work. But, as beginners DON'T skip this part. This is where that sketchbook will become your best friend. Don't be afraid of failing in a painting, it will happen! It happens to even the best of the best. Sometimes we need several tries to figure out how to express what we see on paper. Don't worry about your style (mark making), it will come. You will create your own as you learn from others and practice. We want to create a habit in sketching. All successful people spend time practicing their field.

Reasons to sketch

• Where to start?

You guessed it, sketching! Lots and lots of practice. I find the more I ponder over a painting the easier it is to actually do the painting process. Also, you will set yourself up for more winners than failures. Prep always, always, always paves the way to a more intimate connections with the subject matter. Who says you only need to paint something one time. The more familiar you are with the subject, the more expressive you can become with mood, mark making, abstraction or realism. As beginners, we want to depict our subjects as we see them with increased detail. This is normal. Eventually, you will want to branch out further and maybe move away from realism, this is normal too. Some will move to hyper realism and that's ok. You have to start somewhere (A Marla-ism).

• Why was I attracted to this scene?

Why do we paint what we do? Do we have a fondness for the subject matter? Was it the light and shadow patterns? Was it the colors that grabbed us? These are all important questions to ask our selves before we paint. By answering those kinds of questions, we are already making decisions on how to paint our subject. Here is an example of a photo I took a very long time ago in California. I have taken the mat from a 4x6 and cut it in 2 corners to form 2 L shape mats. This is used to crop the photo into different areas within the photo. Why? In most photos of the landscape you can find at least 2-3 (maybe more) paintings or scenes you'd like to see if they can become a painting. A more in-depth look into photo use with art work will be in another post. But for now lets look at what we might use to help us get started.

This is the original photo 4x6

this is the cropped version of a potential pleasing design option

What is the reason I might like to paint this? The attraction for me in this cropping is the morning light and the tree bush design. Can I make this work? I don't know. Lets break this down and see. I did spend some time with thumbnails on this cropping of the photo.

• Is this about the sky or the earth? (For Landscapes)

Is your subject about the sky? Is it about the earth? Is it a still life or portrait? This gives you direction on how to divide your subject matter within the frame you choose. Richard McKinley (Master Pastelist) always teaches this concept. Discussions on dividing spaces will be presented in greater detail under composition. 

For me this photo above is about the earth. As you can see above, I have very little sky in my cropping. This idea may look something like this. In each format rectangle, square or vertical I have taken the very basic shape and placed it with the sky dominate or the earth dominance. It is up to the artist how they want to express their painting. Or, they could try all formats in quick thumbnails to see which they like the best. This helps to familiarize yourself with the subject and become intimate with it. 

Possible formats of dominance of the sky or earth

• What format do I use?

Is it a rectangle, vertical or square format? This is when you start making decisions with thumbnails. A view finder is VERY helpful if on location. L shape mats help to narrow down areas in the visual field or on a photograph. Try sketching in different formats what  you want to say. How well does your shapes fit into the format? Do the shapes have an easy flow to them. Here is possible options.

Format and Value options

I have taken the basic shapes important to the design and using the notan idea, flipped values around to see if any catch my attention more than others. These are possibilities left to the decision of the artist. None are wrong. Some just look better than others. 

The Notan.  Notan is a Japanese word that means "light-dark balance. It is an arrangement of shapes in the simplest form. To artist it is a way to explore the elements of design without having the distractions of color, texture and detail while designing the potential painting.

This is the most basic shapes of the photo above. I placed it in a square format to try for this study.

Basic Notan

Well, that's it for this post. More on Notan's and Photo use in your work to come. Don't forget to subscribe by email to get notifications of new posts. 

Thanks again, If I ever get the like button working (hopefully soon) we can use that. My brain is wired on the right for artwork and technology is left brain. But, I'll get there.

Have fun and sketch!!! If you do a little each day in 6 months you will see significant improvement. Start Today. 😉