Bird Nest, Day 24
8x8
oil on canvas panel
Daily Paintworks
Everyday I think that maybe I won't be able to come up with a new way to present the theme I chose. Sometimes I set up a still life and just begin painting and the ideas come. I often think better with
a paint brush in my hand just as some writers think better as they write or type. I imagine that musicians also compose while playing and coaches think of new plays while they are coaching.
I do have another way of planning paintings and it's a method I used frequently when
teaching high school art. I find that my thinking drifts toward painting quite often during the day and I quickly draw a thumbnail sketch so I won't forget my idea.
As you can see, it's quite small and probably makes little sense to anyone but me. They serve to jog my memory and sometimes give birth to a new idea. I did not want my students to use the first idea they thought of (because they were usually not great ideas). I had them draw x number of thumbnails and then choose the one with the most potential. Sometimes they grumbled a little but the work
they produced was stellar.
Quite often the thumbnail sketch does not transfer to a larger painting and I wipe it off and begin again. Some paintings have gone through several wipes before I'm satisfied with it. Sometimes I use the thumbnail idea but add or subtract shapes, colors, etc. It's all a grand, glorious experiment
that keeps us painters up in the morning and trying again. Churchill once said (paraphrasing here) that to be happy, choose something that demands perfection that will never be met. I think that sums it up nicely!
