The Laziness Factor

This morning it occurred to me that often my paintings succeed or fail based on how lazy I am. In the past, I have been given advice by teachers and peers that I know is sound, but I am too lazy to do what they recommend consistently, if at all. I know I am not alone in this, so read on if you want to see if any of these apply to you:

• A sketch done before you begin painting will save you a world of hurt later. Get you basic shapes and value patterns down on paper. Make alterations to the less than perfect scene you have chosen to paint until it becomes a good composition. Don't skip this step!!!
• Use a mirror to look at your painting as you progress. This works! It will make mistakes jump out at you like you've never seen that painting before.
• Think before you apply paint - take your time. My way to fix a bad painting used to be to apply more and more paint as fast as I could and hope for a miracle! That doesn't work.

You've probably heard all of this before, but when you are learning anything, it seems you only absorb what you are ready to hear, so I'm tellin' you one more time in case it's your day to listen.

In my last post, Wasting Time, I was working on a painting with a bad photo for reference and the inability to recognize that fact. I went back to that piece and analyzed what had gone wrong, and here is the outcome. It is better than my first attempt and I learned a lot from the experience.

Keep painting!