What to Paint: Things To Decide Before Starting a Painting

Ettore
9"x12" Acrylic on Canvas
The success of a painting often is already decided before the first brushstroke hits the canvas.

Even for artists that don't like too much planning and preparatory work, and prefer to jump right in and start painting, following their instincts - and this is very much how I am - there are many decisions that must be made before and during the creative process. Each decision can drastically change the look and the overall feeling of the paint.

Many questions musy be answered by the artist, consciously or not:
  • What am I going to paint?
  • What mood and feelings am I going to convey?
  • What kind of shapes and lines will I use in my composition?
  • What size will my painting support, my brushstrokes, and my color areas be?
  • What paint medium(s) will I use?
  • What techniques and textures will I incorporate?
  • What color scheme will I follow?
 I wrote an article about  this critical process "What to Paint: Things To Decide Before Starting a Painting".  You can read the complete article on HubPages.com.

Comments

  1. yashaSeptember 11, 2012

    That's a fantastic article Robie.Really helpful.Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JaneSeptember 14, 2012

    Great reading, there is always something to be learned. And Ettore is ' to dye for ' , look at those eyes, and the colors are wonderful ! xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robie BenveSeptember 15, 2012

    Hi Yasha and Jane, It's great to hear that you found the article interesting, thanks a lot.
    I've been writing on hubpages.com for several months now, on painting and other topics, and I love it, if it wasn't that it takes so much time from my painting!
    But I got back to the easel now, and hopefully be more active on the blog too.
    Thanks for stopping by! :)

    ReplyDelete

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