Daily Painting: Frequent Practice is Essential for Mastery

Don't let anything get in the way of your daily art practice!

As a born perfectionist and over thinker, I am not really a huge "doer" when compared to some people. Despite being a quick start, I tend to avoid finishing projects in favour of a shiny new project or idea. Also, my preferred method is to mull things over until I feel like I have everything figured out in order to to avoid nasty mistakes. 

Malcolm Gladwell talked about the need for 10,000 hours of practice to master anything. Some disagree with that number and I would say that it is important to have a lot of focused practice, not just putting in the hours. That may involve taking classes, reading books, watching demos and working on specific tasks to improve where you are weak. Plein air outdoor painting, for instance is a great challenge to take on that will help you quickly nail values and colour in your work. Working from life in the studio is a valuable practice as well, for many of the same reasons, but a little easier since you can control your lighting.

If you want a scientific study to prove the conjecture that producing more work is better than trying to just complete one masterpiece, this quote from the book, Art and Fear, is enlightening:

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

The more paintings you have done, the more experience you have gained and as you progress you will find that quality springs from quantity. The more often you create, the better you become at your chosen vocation. Fortunately, over time I have managed to put in a lot of hours and a lot of study, despite myself and can now see the value in having a consistent, regular art practice with focused attention to areas that need work. 

Creating art on a daily basis can be a real life challenge for many of us, whether it is kids, a necessary job that pays the bills, health problems that cause endless appointments or family responsibilities that get in the way. Many of these are an ongoing struggle for me, so I empathize with others who may have even more challenging circumstances. So, how can we possibly have a daily art practice?

One of the best ways to improve quickly and feel more comfortable is to work small - in this way you can incorporate all the elements of a bigger painting - composition, colour, value, texture, big shapes and, most importantly, confidence! Then you can go on to apply the lessons learned to larger pieces.

All this is not to say that there is no value in "book learning" or studying the work of master painters, but there is no substitute for the daily grind of going to your room (as the late Robert Genn recommended) and doing your work.

* photo obviously not mine - can't find the origin to credit, so if anyone knows, please let me know!

Gorgeous Work by Cecilia Beaux

I was particularly happy to be able to attend the conference this year since the final days of a special exhibit featuring Cecilia Beaux were also happening on that weekend.

The eyes were placed about 1/4" too high in the previous incarnation, so I had to paint out the upper half of his head and start over.    

Even John Singer Sargent, arguably the greatest portrait painter ever, scraped out heads over and over until he achieved what he had in mind, which makes me feel better about having to do so!

In painting portraits you start with a broom and end with a needle - from the general to the specific, and you can't fall in love with any detail until the whole is perfectly proportioned.

I am liking the Mona Lisa pose and tentative smile, although more work still needs to be done before I am happy with this one!

William

BRUCE

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

I particularly enjoyed painting this handsome gentleman, as it was the first time I had an opportunity to paint someone with a beard. Some skill is necessary to avoid having the hair look cut out and pasted on and restraint was necessary when painting the white hair in shadow.

ERIN

9 x 12 inches, oil on panel

Love this kind of rim lighting - very dramatic!

Geneen - Oil Sketch from Life

This past weekend, I had the privilege of studying with the wonderful painter, Mr. Everett Raymond Kinstler at The Art Students League in New York City. Mr. Kinstler is one of the foremost portrait painters in the United States and has painted numerous celebrities, politicians and presidents. He is also a really nice guy and gives constructive criticism to help other painters improve their work.

Julia - 14x18 oil on canvas

New Brother - 12x16 oil on panel

Oil Sketch - Oxana

Oil Sketch - Lorain

A few times a year, some of the members of the Portrait Society of Canada get together at The Arts and Letters Club to paint for a few hours at a time. This is a lovely model who posed for us when the fantastic painter Yuqi Wang was with us. With such a limited amount of time, it is difficult to get the painting to the level I would like, so sometimes I take a couple of photographs so I can tweak the likeness a bit later on.

Warrior

Alexandra: Completed Oil Sketch

Moria: Painted from Life

Completed portrait of Moria, painted entirely from life sittings.

Brothers

Late afternoon sunshine and a happy moment frozen in time.

First Year

As a child, my strong interest in European History led me to start drawing copies of Old Master works from artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Hans Holbein. I had a natural ability to make perfect copies of these paintings and drawings, so I moved on to drawing portraits of friends and acquaintances. I received many awards and accolades for my artwork, with portraiture becoming my main interest.

Later, I pursued formal studies in painting and color, graduating from Sheridan College, and also studying with numerous artists who were skilled in painting and portraiture. I began painting with watercolor and then moved to acrylic briefly before turning to oil paint as my favored medium.

I strive to create beautiful, meaningful works of art, full of light and color using oil paint, while at the same time revealing the essence of the subject’s personality. The reason I now choose to work in oil for the most part is this medium has withstood the test of time and the paintings will last for hundreds of years, becoming family heirlooms. To achieve the best color, form and individuality, I prefer to work from life as much as possible. I usually choose to portray a life-size image that captures the person's likeness, while keeping the rest of the canvas impressionistic in order to highlight attention to the face.

My aim at this time is to continue to grow as a painter and artist. To this end, I continue to learn from established artists by taking workshops regularly and I often visit museums and galleries to study how artists of the past that I admire greatly (such as Diego Velazquez, John Singer Sargent and Cecilia Beaux) obtained their outstanding results. I believe that the artistic journey is lifelong and we need to continue to improve and hone our craft in order to have the tools to create meaningful paintings. This is what makes painting endlessly interesting. There is always room to improve. More than one person has said to me that it must be nice to have such a relaxing vocation. This comment always makes me laugh, at least inwardly, as nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the pursuit of my vision is often the most frustrating, aggravating torture. I am never completely satisfied and most paintings are not finished, but abandoned. However, this is what keeps a painter pressing forward, the fact that art is an absorbing pursuit with endless options, sometimes surprising results and occasionally the satisfaction of having achieved at least part of what you set out to accomplish with serendipitous surprises adding something more.

I am currently working on commissions, plein air paintings, still life and figurative pieces.