Practice vs Painting

I have said many times that I am a technique painter.  Always have been and always will be.  I am not a talented painter and it takes hundreds of paintings for me to catch a concept.  I have probably painted over 700 paintings with birds.  At least 30 this year so far and I will be painting many more for sure.  Many of them I don't show.  I paint for myself to learn concepts, practice techniques and advance my skills.  I also paint pieces to teach concepts.  I practice a lot.  I approached this painting with a different mindset and it shows in the bird.  I have painted her many times before in different positions.   The flycatchers nest at our house and I so enjoy watching them raise the little ones.  So I have practiced her several times.  So much so I can see her shapes and feathers with my eyes closed.  That is the key.  You must be able to see the subtle color tones, feather movements and edges with your eyes closed.  That takes repetition or talent.  I use repetition.  Do I have talent? No, I have a gift.  My gift is I never quit.  My gift is I will practice until I understand it.  I never say I can't do it.  I will do it, it just take practice and time.  I paint her with a technique.  A technique that I have used on hundreds of paintings.   She has warm and color tones.  Look to the subtle tone changes in her head and down her body.  The feathers are applied with a larger brush and very few strokes through thick...thick paint.  This gives the power to the color that John Sargent talks about.   Smaller color tones are painted in and painted out around the face to give the details.  This is a technique I use when I want the extra "spark" in a subject whether it is a bird or a rose.

Practice helps me see.  Repetition gives me confidence.  How do you make those powerful feather strokes with the body feathers over the wing?  You have done them so many times that it is nothing to you.  When it is no big deal, then you have the confidence and it does show in your brush.  Each stroke is applied with the direction of the body in mind.  Each feather area is stroked with the knowledge of the feathers.  Smaller feathers around the beak and eyes and larger ones in the wing and mantle.  You can't paint confidently by copying, you paint confidently by understanding.  For me that takes practice.  I can copy a painting, but it doesn't have the life and energy that shows when I understand it.  This is why I like fast painting studies.  I am a big advocate of them.  They force you to practice the concepts, shapes and tones over and over again until you can see them in your sleep.  Then, you can paint confidently.  I know now that the most important tool in painting for me is temperature.  I am a temperature painter and when I add more of that to the paintings, I like them more.  I know I must look for the color temperature in all my paintings and make sure I add them.  They are techniques.  It is practice.  Anyone can paint.   It is like cooking.  I remember watching my grandmother make a pot of soup once and she used the palm of her hand to measure salt.  Wow, how do you know that is the correct amount?  Making many pots of soup.  Of course when I made it I followed a recipe, then used a teaspoon to measure.  After a few hundred pots of soup and especially since I didn't have time I learned that the hand can certainly do it and it doesn't have to be exactly perfect to be delicious.  Same with paintings.....  An area doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.  Art embraces change and variation.  Have a great day creating!

Society is Not Static, Change Your Art

One question I have from my students all the time is how to paint things.  How do I decide?  Well, I am a professional artist.  It is funny because most people think you can't make a living as an artist.  Well, they are wrong... really, really wrong, but you must do it correctly and professionally.  You must follow the trends and diversify.   You must constantly change.

Art constantly changes.  It runs in cycles.  It has for thousands of years.  Even Rosemaling, my first love changed each design period from the Renaissance to Louis XVI.  Each design period brought new ways of painting and "looks".   Today, some say they want "traditional" Rosemaling... Well, if you truly study the history of Rosemaling, there is no such thing as "Traditional".  Which Telemark is Traditional?  Baroque, Rococo, Regency, Louis XVI and so on?  It always changes.  Art changes.....  It is like Sigmund Aarseth wrote in his Rosemaling book in 1974...  Rosemaling must change because society is not static.  It always changes, so Rosemalers should change.  That is so very, very true.

I have been painting since 1975 and have seen so many changes.  Artists that are still popular change with the industry.  They create new looks and styles.  I change...  I have reinvented myself 5 times over the years and I am doing it again right now.  I will always have my favorite styles to paint, but I must change to keep the art moving because society is not static.  I must change to stay popular and sell my paintings. I see it all the time...  In decorative painting one artist becomes very popular, then after 5 years, if they don't change, no one paints that style any longer.  Why?  It isn't because the paintings aren't great, it is because society is not static.  It changes.   A funny  example is James Bond, look how they made the movies in the 1960's to how they do it today.   This year they will produce I believe the 24th movie since Dr. No in 1962.  He is still fighting SPECTRE but with different tools and completely different cinematography.   Movies have changed, shoes have changed, watches, couches, water bottles... Everything changes.  The entertainment of good vs. evil doesn't change, but how they entertain us with that battle does.  The idea of painting a rose will not change, because roses sell!!!  

An artist must change how they presents the rose with new looks, colors and techniques that excite the market and make people want to learn and buy it.  Change...  it is important.  So I change.  I change to keep art exciting and fresh.  I certainly love painting all styles and will bring some back in a few years.  But that is not always successful.  I loved the volkswagon bug, but they could successfully bring in back.   Because society changes.  I would still love to have one though.. Each artist must find their way.  

For me, I cannot compete with realism that digital photographers can bring to the art.  So I don't paint that any longer.  Digital art is now huge in our market.  So I must make my paintings look like paintings!  I cannot compete with digital art, so I go a different direction.  Give your paintings textures, strokes, powerful tones.  They must be paintings and look like paintings.   Look for what makes your paintings different from other things.  So, I have moved to fast, alla prima, and other techniques that give me dramatic looks the digital artists cannot do.  Perfect for the new generation acrylics.  Digital arts cannot place a thick stroke of paint to make something come forward.  I can.  No more mop brushes, blending for me.  Because digital art can do that.  My art must be different because society changes.   

So I just completed a commissioned wildlife painting above.  My third one this month.  Why?  it is a painting.  You can see the movement of the brush and paint.  I don't paint "real" elk.  I make them a painted object within the scene.  Rocks are painted with textures and heavy use of paint that provides another means of visual entertainment that other media cannot do. As an artist always look for what you can do that is unique.  That is the key.  That is what I do.  I have so many new ideas for Rosemaling, strokes, scrolls, seascapes, etc....  So many, because I change, open my mind to new things and looks for ways that other digital industries cannot do.    It is like I read on facebook earlier this year?  Why go buy that painted rabbit at a craft store for $5 when I can paint it for $100 in supplies?  Why can't you sell craft items?  Because so many can do it cheaper.  Why can't you sell paintings?  Because they can print something cheaper.  Make your work unique.  Looks for techniques that are more difficult to produce.   You can sell giclees of your art like I do, but, I know I am going the right direction when I sell more originals than I do prints...  and I do! 

Center of Interest

I really enjoy painting birds in different environments.  The key to making a successful painting is to establish a center of interest that revolves around the bird.  Even a grey bird like the one above can have interest.  Varying the colors from the warmer yellow green greys to the cooler blue greys will give him more interest.  The most important aspect though is the use of stroke and textures.  I will use many small textured strokes of various tones around the eye and beak and then soften them as I move down the body of the bird.  This will pull the viewers eye to the face and then down the body. 

Lost edges are soft edges and are so very important in creating the mood of the painting.  As you develop your style and look to your paintings always remember that lost edges create the mood.  Notice in the photo above how the face and head of the bird "jump" off the background.  This is because those areas are well defined.  Outer areas and colors are lost.  This helps define the story of my painting making the head of the bird the subject.  Find a subject, then make a story around that subject.  Create your art!

Final orders are shipping today. Thank you so much everyone! May your summer be filled with beautiful flowers and birds!

Spring is here. Time to paint some beautiful flowers and birds. Next week we start to work on our first bird book. Watch for photos! Have a creative day. Please share... and comment!

Our new book A Garden of Birds. We released an extra 3 hour lesson DVD along with the book. That is more than 5 hours of DVD lessons and the 180 page book with over 700 step photos.
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Little different for the new year. This is painted using the 6 colors of Paint It Simply. Really fun to paint. We hope you enjoy and share. Thank you:)

Painting in progress, Prairie Falcon by the bluffs. Hope you enjoy this preview. Please like and comment. It helps our posts. Thank you so much!

Here is a close-up from one of our new paintings. Have a wonderful and creative day everyone! I am off to paint