Finishing Touch

One of the hard points about being a painter is putting down the brush.

Once you get into the swing of painting, and the momentum is rolling, putting the breaks on is very difficult.

One way to stop is when you reach that point where there is hesitation to where the next brush mark should be …. Just put the brush down and walk away. Clean up and leave the painting where it is in plain view to observe.

     I did this with the Pear painting, and noticed the areas that needed correcting. Each time I stopped to look at the painting I ask myself a few questions.

1. Do I like the structure?

2. Is the perspective correct?

3. What is the focal point?

I had the answers before I started painting on it again.

What was changed is slight, color and contrast where the pear and the glass meet. And there is a correction to the base of the glass. But sometimes little changes make a big difference in the over picture. Just thought I would share some finishing touches with you.


First stopping point.




Corrections for perspective and focal point.




Addressing highlights




Finished painting.






 













Thinking on paper

Thinking on paper......

Having a composition in mind is only one step towards painting a picture.
I know what I want to paint, and have an idea of the lay out. That is a good start.
Now I need to decide the mood. To visualize the possible moods, I think out loud, on paper. In this case looking at the subject in positive, a negative and neutral version.
The practice is done on gold toned watercolor paper with black and white for the positive and negative, with neutral colors for the other.
What I decided is …there are 3 paintings to do. Yep I like all three.
Next decision will be what actual colors will work. Sounds like I have more time to play with practice paintings before hitting the canvas.
How long does it take to paint a picture? Not long.
How much time does one spend thinking about painting that picture? A very long time.

That is ok, if you think with a paint brush.