When I am teaching I often hear the phrase, “I was afraid …”
“I was afraid of using the wrong color.”
“I was afraid of painting a portrait.”
“I was afraid I would ruin it.”
“I was afraid,” frames a list of inactions by those who let fear rule their progress.
When fear tries to take control of your creative process you can fight back by asking a simple question: “What is the worst thing that can happen?”
You may ruin a piece of paper or have to paint over a canvas. You may have to start over again or accept that the task was too difficult at the time. No one is hurt; lives are not shattered. Thank goodness you are an artist and not a surgeon, accountant, or school bus driver. If you study what went wrong you could learn a valuable lesson from the mistake and that is time well spent, not wasted.
Talent can take artists only so far. Fear can squash the growth of the gifted and leave them where they began. Tenacity is a powerful force and artists who accept the struggle and work through the fear are more likely to find their own vision and voice.
The artists who succeed paint consistently, trying new ideas to grow their skills. They do not let fear stop or control them. After all, what is the worst thing that can happen?
I used to give art presentations at my children’s grade school. One of my favorite lessons was teaching the kids about color. I would set up a plain white cup on a white table with a white background. Then using a blank canvas I told them that I was going to paint the cup and they were going to tell me what colors to use.
The first suggestion was always white and I would place a stroke of white onto the white canvas. Because the paint was the same color and value as the canvas, it did not show up. Now what?
This question led the kids to really look at the white objects and discover there was hardly any white in them at all. The light side and shadow side were very different from each other; the background and the table were different from the cup. Every inch of the subject had its own unique color, and there was very little white in the white still life. It was exciting to watch kids discover that the color they thought something should be, wasn’t.
Adults often assume what a color should be; they rely on those assumptions to make color choices. Test this by answering the following questions with the first color that pops into your mind.
The sky is ______________.
Clouds are _____________.
The grass is ____________.
Most people answer that the sky is blue, clouds are white, and grass is green, but what about the sky in the early morning or on a foggy day? Clouds shift color depending on their density and the angle of the sun. Is grass the same green in spring, summer and fall? The symbolic color we associate with the object stands in the way of seeing true color.
This is why painting a white on white still life is such a good way to learn to see color. If you look truthfully, like the kids did, you will be surprised at the variety of colors that make up white. Trust what you see and not what you think you should see. Use this exercise to become a better observer and in turn a better painter.
Here is a recent color demo and the palette I used to paint it. It is important to work from life when you do this exercise. Your eyes are sensitive to nuances of color that a camera cannot record.
If you would like to explore more about color I have several color workshops coming up including one in Italy, September 30-October 8 2017 and Croatia, June 2018. I also have several in the U.S. For more workshop info click here
Throughout the age’s artists have learned by copying the work of master artists. If you want to study portraiture you can learn from John Singer Sargent by copying his drawings in the book “Sargent Portrait Drawings, 42 works by John Singer Sargent.”
This book, by Dover Art Library, is an inexpensive paperback filled with Sargent’s sketches of his friends. These were drawn for fun and study and hold a wealth of information for artists to dissect and learn from.
A copy of Sargent's self portrait from my sketch book.
Copying a master work helps you to understand the process of the artist. Here are three things to pay attention to when you copy portraits from this book.
Gesture: look how Sargent gives a feeling of action to the portraits, they are turning, tilting, and tipping. Notice how the action adds to the personality of the subject.
Simple value pattern: study how Sargent joins light and dark shapes together to create a sense of form. The form is more important than the features.
Features are suggested: Sargent was brilliant at adding just enough information to tell you what was going on. Notice how the features are often suggested rather than rendered? What he leaves out is just as important as what he puts in. You can copy individual features of his portraits to see how effective he is at suggestion.
If copying the portraits scares you then begin by tracing them. Don’t outline but fill in the dark shapes to see how they connect. Once you have that silhouette you can finish by adding details. To get an unbiased critique compare your work to Sargent’s by photographing them together and viewing them on a screen. Use this critique to figure out the difference and adjust your drawing.
I traced the value pattern onto tracing paper to find a simple silhouette, then I built the drawing by adding more values into the shadow and light areas.
Sargent himself learned by copying master paintings. You can continue the tradition and learn portraiture from master artist John Singer Sargent, and yes it only cost $6.95.
Last week I taught a workshop called “Expressive Portraits from Photographs.” The goal of the workshop is to learn how to interpret photographs rather than copy them. We had a photography session with one of my favorite models, Rose Morgan. It was a beautiful day with the landscape clad in ripe spring bloom. We photographed Rose throughout the grand Grosse Pointe War Memorial then continued the photo shoot outdoors. For my final demo of the workshop I chose a photo of Rose where all the color of the sunny spring day is reflecting back onto her. She is standing against a stone column and the background of the photo seemed disconnected with the beauty of the day so I created a color nest to explain the setting and the feeling of the light.
A color nest is created by painting the colors of the surroundings and the light into the background and then building the portrait in relation to those colors. The nest is a series of shapes that do not represent anything, just light and color that showcase the subject. For this demo I began with a linear drawing to capture the action of the head and the placement of the features. Next I began to surround the drawing with the colors of the day - the blue of the sky, the yellow light, and the fresh greens of unfurling leaves. This created a nest of light that would explain the reflecting colors on the planes of her face. As the colors enclosed around the portrait I increased the value differences in areas to accentuate the light.
Color nests work best when used as a background for a singular subject like a portrait, a tree, or a line of wash swaying in the breeze. In this painting, Thursday Wash, my subject was the afternoon light falling on a line of pinned cloths blowing gently in the wind.
This was painted plein air in my back yard. I chose to paint a color nest rather than the trees, fence, compost pile, and other stuff in the yard. The line hangs under an old maple with a thick arching canopy that filters the sunlight into shifting patches of yellow. I painted the background with a wash of permanent rose and Indian yellow to capture the color of the afternoon light and then added the greens on top working back and forth to create the nest of color for the cloths to shine against.
To build a color nest you have to rely on color notes, which can be written color notations or simple marks of color to set your palette to at a later date. Sketch books are a great way to keep a file of palettes of light. Visual memory, which I wrote about in a previous blog, is very helpful and the more you study and paint from life the better you will be able to express yourself when interpreting a subject. Next time you are inspired by a subject but not with the background, paint a color nest and see what happens.
Notes from my sketchbook in Italy last year
Below is a video of progression shots of the demo of Rose. Thank you Bunny Homan for sending these photos.
Every artist needs a sacred space. What is a sacred space? It is an area you claim all for yourself for creative work - a place where your materials stand at the ready for sudden inspirations as well as daily painting.
Artists who do not have this space suffer. Without it regular practice becomes a tiresome task of finding a spot to work, gathering materials, and then taking it all down. Frustration builds when you are not able to create and it becomes easier to say you will work someday rather than every day. The muse is fickle and loses interest when you are not prepared.
A sacred space is what you make of it. A studio does not have to be large or fancy but it does need to meet certain criteria:
It is a space that you claim as your own - no sharing - this is where you create.
Stake your claim by furnishing it with an easel, a table and a chair - whatever you need to work comfortably.
Set out your materials so that you can begin work as quickly as possible.
Have what you need to create and keep your materials out where you can see them.
Surround yourself with what inspires you - music, photographs, sketches, and books - whatever stirs your soul.
I had a friend, who passed away a few years ago, who was an amazing artist. He was becoming recognized in the art world for his beautiful pastel landscapes. To read a list of his awards you would think that his work was created in a large beautiful studio. The truth is most of his work was created at a table next to the furnace in his basement. His space consisted of his pastels, a table, a light, his coffee maker and a radio. The work that came out of him speaks volumes to his daily practice in the space that was his own.
My space has changed over the years. When I was a new mom my space was a spare bedroom where I could close the door and work with my pastels. When the second child came along we added an addition to the back of the house. Here I could work on my paintings and watch the children play in the yard. As they grew the space became smaller because I shared it with the family computer. School projects and computer work began to crowd out my creative time. My husband redid our basement where our son had half for his music and I had half for my art work. It was cramped but I enjoyed listening to his music and it was part of my inspiration. When he left home I took over his area and now walking down to our basement is walking into my creative space. I have several easels, good lighting, and lots of materials to work with as well as books and objects to inspire me. It is not perfect but I can work whenever I want to. It is sacred to me and I am grateful.
If you would like to explore more about color I have several color workshops coming up including one in Italy, September 30-October 8 2017 and Croatia, June 2018. I also have several in the U.S. For more workshop info click
A copy of Sargent's self portrait from my sketch book.
Notes from my sketchbook in Italy last year
