What, So What, Now What

I have been pushing paint now for 4 weeks after my down time.  On advice from my teacher I kept expectations low starting with some mixing exercises.  Good thing.  My ability to get what I wanted done was pretty poor.  However, I set up each exercise to learn something and get some hours in on the easel.  I started at 45 minutes and am now at 2 hours a session.  As I progressed I turned to painting on scraped back images, then to painting life from my studio window, and now I have been using photo reference.  Desperate to get outside for real studies, I think I'll keep the painting sessions to an hour and a half max.  As I get stronger maybe multiple sessions in a day recording the light condition each time.  I used to paint 6 - 7 days a week.  Now maybe 4 with reading and study most every day for at least a few minutes.

So these are my observations to date.

Concept - I have been pretty good at developing these and getting a vision before painting. This really helps with the limited painting time.  I use multiple small drawings with notes to solidify the vision.

Seeing - lost most of this to begin with.  Painting from life has helped recover some ability.  I am going to begin life drawing next week to help with this before going outside.  If you can't see you tend to slip into painting what you think.

Execution - While having a decent concept, I had trouble mixing and making decisions when I started back.  See it but can't do it!  This has improved with time on the easel.  My signature is still pretty wiggly so I have trouble laying in intricate patches of paint.  Paint on, and this should improve.

Feeling the paint - This is returning as I paint more.  I am a tactile person so this is important to me.  As David Leffel says "you don't pint with a brush, you paint with paint".

Drawing - Use it or lose it.  I draw as part of my concept development so this is helping as will the life drawing.

Composition, shapes - I'm aware of these and drawing is helping here.

Values - Pretty bad to start with especially using colour but using a value scale is helping recover this skill.

Colour - Recovering this sensitivity as I go.  I have a good understanding of the theory and this helps.  As I improve seeing I continue to refine colour as part of my concept.

Paint Quality - With poor dexterity in the beginning this was a problem.  Just painting and paying more attention to it is helping.

Edges -  If you can't see...  So paint on.

I am planning to paint more in the studio.  I'll do studio paintings from colour studies done on location wherever I can.  After twenty years of painting standing I have to face the reality that I'm going to have to sit considerably more.  So I'm looking for a substantial easel that will augment this.  I'm now set for light weight travel equipment.  Love the GoodOmen Travel Mate box.

Enter the Studio

Gloucester Trawler from Reference