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 Startin...
