Hello 

Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #94, Get the Big Picture

Check out the watercolor above that I did while in Mongolia last week.
In last week's newsletter, I went over how I have been using Google Maps to travel the world and sketching and painting some of the great places I find. You can see the image I used to paint from below. 
I received some great feedback from last week's newsletter. Thanks for the compliments and I am very happy that you are enjoying the newsletter. 

This week's newsletter goes into how to see the big picture and letting your painting go through the uglies.

This weekend is the BeckerArt SHOW-iN Pop-Up-Gallery and Expo. Many of my students in my weekly classes will be show-in off their works and we will be demonstrating our skills. Please stop on by either Sat. or Sun.
For more info go HERE   Please pass it on, we would love to see many of you!

Another event at Smith Central Garage on March 19th will be the Dillman's Festival of Artists.
Get info HERE.  

David

Yes to Class at the Civic Center in Libertyville on March 2nd
Yes to SHOW-iN  at The Studio in McHenry on March 4th if you are not in the show but still would like to come and paint, that would be great. We will be set-up at Smith's Central Garage. 

Paintings go through a number of stages and at the first couple of stages the painting usually doesn't look very good. This is a problem for many beginners because they expect their paintings to look good throughout every stage. Many get frustrated and quit on their paintings because they don't like what they see at the beginning of the painting. Irving Shapiro an instructor at the Academy, would say that the painting has to go through the uglies before it starts looking good. He would say to step back and get away from the painting so you can see the big picture. Irv would also have you look at the stages of your painting through a mirror or turning it upside down to see the mistakes you may have made. Stepping back and looking at it from a distance or taking a photo of your painting with your cell phone and looking at it smaller gives you a chance to analyze what you have accomplished and what you may not have gotten right. The first couple of stages you painting goes through may be ugly but when you get to the last couple of stages, that's when the painting really starts to shine.

At the American Academy of Art, I also had a teacher by the name of Mr. Parks. 
Mr. Parks taught life drawing and one of the ways he taught was to repeat sayings over and over again so you would never forget the saying. One of his sayings I have never forgotten was " every now and then get up off of your (short pause, so you think he was going to say ass but instead said... bench), step back and take a look at the whole thing". Such great advice and something I now teach my students. 

Getting away from the picture and coming back to it is good because you come back to look at it with a fresh eye. If you sit too long right in front of the painting and not take a break once in a while you can miss a lot of things that could easily be corrected if you stand back and look at the work from a distance.

take a break and step back!

David

Seeing the image from a distance or smaller makes it look better because it's giving you the big picture of the value pattern. When you are close to the picture you are seeing parts of the painting but when you step away from the painting or look at it when it is small, you are seeing the parts all working together.

Please join me for my first workshop of the season May 1st -4th at the Landgrove Inn, Vermont
I was at the Inn last July and this place is amazing!  Come join me for a 4 day workshop that will run you through so many of my teachings. Click HERE for my workshop
If you like my newsletters, just wait until you take this workshop, it's like all 95 newsletters rolled into 4 great days.