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| Garden Storm (WIP) 12"x 12" oil on canvas/Photo Ernie Viskupic For comments or information: www.mwinklea@gmail.com |
"Use bigger brushes. Paint faster. Don't hold back!"
I came across this sage advice in a newsletter I receive. It is from an interview with Allen C. Smith, abstract painter. He was asked what advice would he give a beginning painter. My initial thought was, "This has nothing to do with me, my painting techniques..." as I toiled away with my teeny tiny #0 round brush on the painting below. It is a small canvas, 12"x 12" filled with lots of tiny details. "He is an abstract painter," I thought, "with lots of splash and drags of color. I don't paint that way." But his words kept popping into my head days later as I moved onto my next painting on a larger 16" x 20" cradled board. And there I was again dibbing and dabbing away with my tiny brushes and wondering why the painting was not progressing as quickly as I had wanted it to. I was holding back. I was painting really, really slowly...and I was using teeny tiny brushes...and, what I would add to Allen C. Smith's sage advice is..."get out of your head and into your heart"
