The Reprimand

      As to learning the rules, here is the reprimand:

       Even those artists that broke away from the pack to form their own approach to painting, which in turn started a whole new movement and style of painting, were trained artists, and learned the rules. It was the application of the rules in a new manner that set them apart. But, it was the rules that made their paintings work. Even Jackson Pollack knew and used the rules to be "spontaneous". Certainly it can be mind-boggling to be flooded with too many rules all at once. It takes time to layer and absorb the matrix of design and color, accuracy and placement. But art is more than just a feeling, a nuance. It is the ability to say something evocative with a brush. And if you want it to say more than P U, foundation is necessary to build on in order to depart from and stand alone and be good at what you do. So, here are the rules really necessary to enjoy painting and what you have painted. Doing the following is the bare minimum to being happy with your paintings, unless you are simply satisfied with copying.

     Copying photos, copying paintings, the planning is already done for you. Good photos already have everything decided. But if you further understand why they are good in respect to line, value, form, color scheme, chroma, and temperature, you can maintain quality and improve on it. So if pleasure painting is what you seek, what's more pleasurable than being successful? Implementing and understanding this basic process (1-4  listed below) will turn on the mental mechanism within you that will enable you to learn ways to always grow as an artist.  If you follow the rules below, minimally you will be successful now and immediately.

Rules, rules, rules! Here's the bare minimum:

1. Do thumbnails for all your paintings until you are good enough to do them in your head.  That means, good enough to do 3 plans in your head, select and reject, remember your concept and follow it through to the end of your painting.

2.  Learn to move color and light, be aware of it in your planning stage, before you start painting. 

3. Keep your values reduced to under 6 (that includes white) and bump them up or down to make them work!

4. After you plan, please, check yourself, check your placement, check your thumbnails. When you deviate, you learn very little except how to never achieve your goal. If something else occurs to you along the way, don't proceed with your new idea. In other words, if it departs from the line, value, form, chroma, temperature, color scheme you have overall already attended to in your plan: STOP DON'T DO IT, GO BACK TO YOUR THUMBNAILS AND YOUR ORIGINAL PLAN.  If your new idea enhances what you have planned, and maintains it, proceed and finish. Otherwise finish your painting as originally planned, then paint your subject again with your new idea developed into a new plan. You will have 2 great paintings. One is always better, but that is subjective, and an argument for which is which. When you do it over under a new plan and have finished the first plan, you learn how the rules are working!

     You don't have to be a serious painter to plan. You just have to be someone that hopes for something you like when you are done; someone, who wants to enjoy painting and the results. Planning is the only thing that separates you from me, and me and you  from any really great artist.

     For me, I have an irrational driving force within that wants to share the joy of painting, that means it is important to me that you are successful, which means sharing the rules and you learning rules well enough to follow them. There is absolutely no way you can turn out a poor painting if you do this! Success feels great and you will love painting. You'll be sucked into timeless energy as you paint and discover the awe of painting in the zone. You are going to be more than pleased: you'll be happy and regenerated, ready to do it again. Rules. Are you ready?
   If I'm soft in describing or demonstrating process please use the comments box, or email me at ssprigggallery@yahoo.com so I can help and be more clear wherein I have not been successfully teaching you how to plan your painting. There are many mechanisms by which we learn and sometimes I just need to reassert it differently, then rote learning is the key. Do it and do it and then you've got it forever. Take a moment to review July 30, 2013 " How to critique your own work". It explains this minimal process you should always do before you paint.