Read this side first....

"Good artists borrow, great artists steal." Pablo Picasso

Picasso also said, "to search means nothing in painting.  To find is the thing".  He was getting at the same idea with that.  He meant something more like this: copying another painting, or stealing the idea of the painting and creating something new with it.  Stealing the idea doesn't mean the composition for an artist -- that's copying.  You steal the feeling from the painting, and use it to create something else.

Diego Riviera, Mexico's greatest painter relates that when he was in Paris, Picasso would visit his studio frequently. Diego would have to hide his newest works because Picasso was an inquisitive fellow who would poke through Diego's rooms, always sniffing for new ideas for inspiration. Some of Picasso's best works are derived from the paintings of others, reinvigorated by his creativity.

'The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.'  Albert Einstein

http://www.buildart.com/secrettobetterpainting.htm 

In this workshop we will focus on the little understood and often omitted preliminary steps that have to happen before you put brush to paper for the final painting.  It takes a little time and can save a huge amount of frustration disappointment.  Fail to plan, plan to fail.  Does it stifle creativity?  Not at all, it puts part of it in the first steps of the process where it can be examined and easily modified.  Once it becomes second nature you might do this in your head, but you still do it.

You will be making important decisions that will reveal the inner you and insure a unique painting.  The idea is to use the tools of art to move beyond just copying a picture or documenting the scene before you.  It is essential to see abstractly...shapes interacting with shapes, colors relating to colors, values relating to values, lines interacting with lines; and everything relating to everything else.  Trees, clouds, mountains, apple, table, wall have no meaning in this way of seeing. 

Because I said "abstract" a certain number of people are thinking that none of this applies to them since they do representational art...realism.  This is exactly the point that few understand, but must be understood to make a first class painting.  All paintings are abstract.  Some abstract paintings also have pictorial representation or narrative content, but in essence they are first and foremost abstract because we have only paint on a flat surface.  When you come to grips with this secret you will be on your way to making better paintings. 

Quotes about Abstraction

"The abstract painter considers the realist painter to be the abstract painter and himself the realist because he deals realistically with the paint and does not try to transform it into something that it is not." (Jimmy Leuders)

"Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something." (Georgia O'Keeffe)

"The painter can and must abstract from many details in creating his painting. Every good composition is above all a work of abstraction. All good painters know this. But the painter cannot dispense with subjects altogether without his work suffering impoverishment." (Diego Rivera)

"A conscious decision to eliminate certain details and include selective bits of personal experiences or perceptual nuances, gives the painting more of a multi-dimension than when it is done directly as a visual recording. This results in a kind of abstraction... and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration." (Wayne Thiebaud)

     Get out your mental sketch book and paints.  Visualize a tree on the paper.  This is something you've been doing since you were a small child.  Your trees have gotten more elaborate and detailed, no doubt, over the years.  Very few would deny that you have indeed made a tree.  This is a useful short hand way of thinking and talking we were introduced to as children.  No one actually believes you have somehow made a tree on the paper with paint.  Yet a fascinating world is closed to those who see only the tree.  You must stop seeing "tree" and see the shapes, values, colors, lines and so on that suggest or symbolize a tree.  Once you do your horizons will be suddenly broadened.  Have you heard artist use the terms earth form, cloud form, tree form?  This is a way of acknowledging that we are dealing with 2D shapes, abstractions.

An Example

This stunning little clip art comes with Microsoft Office.  It's exciting in the way we want our paintings to be exciting.  No matter what size you make this picture it will still be exciting.  It is useful for learning because it lacks the detail a full sized painting might have.  What is your initial reaction?  A feeling of calm, peaceful, restful. 

What is the main geometric motif?  The sun disk is the place to start.  The orange ring repeats the circle shape. The cloud curves are related to the circles.  The palm fronds are jagged and irregular, but the overall shape is circular for each tree.  The dominant geometric motif is the circle, the secondary motif is horizontal lines.  Should you consciously include geometric motifs in your bag of artist tools?  Yes, it's important.

Let's look at it as lines.

Notice the tree forms.  Focus on the trunks and the spaces between the trunks.  If the design where music what is the rhythm?  Booom...Boooom...Baa Ba Boom.  None of the spaces are the same.  This is one of the tools of art.  Can you use this idea in your paintings?  Yes...

More analysis soon...

Here's another ocean sunset handled very differently.  And another that's very similar.

1.  Pencil sketch
2.  Painted sketch
3.  Painting
4.  Evaluate, revise
5.  Repeat

1.  Pencil sketch.  In this step the idea is not to just copy your subject matter, but to go beyond it.   Here are some questions you should answer with a series of pencil sketches:

A.  What excites you about this subject?  How will you emphasis that in your composition?  If you can't show it at this stage then you won't be able to do it with paint.  Write the answer to this question in your sketchbook and then show it in your sketch. 

B.  Will you show the excitement with the interaction of positive and negative space;

C.  the use of line and overlapping forms;

D.  repetition of geometric motifs. 

E.  How will you balance your composition? 

F.  Where will you make use of rhythm, texture, value, and color? 

G.  Even though this is pencil you should start thinking about color. 

H.   What format?  Portrait or landscape, square, medium, long.

I.  If your small sketch is not exciting then don't proceed.  Do another one, and another until you have made an exciting little sketch.

The beginning painter is focused on learning technique with the goal of accurate detail.  Then, comes the realization that composition and design are more important.  In time, if there are to be good paintings, an underlying visual concept guides the application of paint.  Finally, the occasional artist discovers how to breath live into the canvas and the painting sings with a pure voice.

Design a Cover, Before and After Magazine, design insights.
http://www.bamagazine.com/downloads/2/38543/
59089763/6/551050/905/BA0606CoverPatterns.pdf

CGNetwork's Reader Project:  Castle Dracula Matte, 7 March 2005 by Brenton Cottman  Very informative description of the process used to create a moonlit scene form first sketches to finished product.  Computer art, but the principles are the same.
http://www.cgnetworks.com/story_custom.php?story_id=2803&page=

Here's another one:
Making Undersea Romance, Jason Chan, 3 March 2005
http://www.cgnetworks.com/story_custom.php?story_id=2802

QUOTES ABOUT IDEAS FROM
PAINTER'S KEYS
http://www.painterskeys.com/getquotes.asp?fname=fl&ID=138

"It should not be hard for you to stop sometimes and look into the stains of walls, or ashes of a fire, or clouds, or mud or like places, in which... you may find really marvelous ideas." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Without planning, your painting will probably be indecisive and fragmented, and you'll try to say too much in one picture." (Ron Ranson)

"Plan like a turtle; paint like a rabbit." (Edgar Whitney)

"Before you compose your picture it's a good idea to ask yourself why you're doing it." (Anonymous)

"Although an image is clearly visible to the eye, it takes the mind to develop it into a rich, tangible brilliance, into an outstanding painting." (Jeanne Dobie)

"An artist is paid for his vision, not his reporting." (Tom Lynch)

"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision." (James Abbot McNeill Whistler)

"What good is a balanced composition if the painting doesn't sing with life's energy and spirit?" (Marney Ward)

"Art is idea. It is not enough to draw, paint, and sculpt. An artist should be able to think." (Gurdon Woods)

"The relationships of shape, texture, and color all contribute to the creative action that gradually becomes the expressive concept." (Marilyn Hughey Phillips)

"When I begin a composition, I try to clearly understand the idea behind the subject... my subconscious tends to reinforce the idea by complementing and contrasting colours in patterns around the subject, leading mind and vision to the centre of the composition." (Ken Strong)

"The ideas must all be in the eye before they are carried out with the brush." (Anonymous Chinese painter)

"When I work on an idea for a painting... the first thing I think of is the atmosphere I am trying to achieve. I want to create another world for the viewer to walk into." (Carol Cottone-Kolthoff)

"The foundation of my ideas is the result of being inspired by a particular shape, quality of light or arrangement of form." (Tom Francesconi)

"The idea is more important than the object." (Damien Hirst)

"I generally 'see' the finished work before I start and carry it around in my head for weeks, or longer, before beginning a painting." (Janet Hayes)

"I must always have a clear image of the form of a work before I begin. Otherwise there is no impulse to create." (Barbara Hepworth)

"I start every painting by asking myself one essential question, 'Is this a powerful image?'" (Suzanne McWhinnie)

"Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese absolutely enchanted me, for they took away all sense of subject… It was the poetry of color which I felt, procreative in its nature, giving birth to a thousand things which the eye cannot see, and distinct from their cause." (Washington Allston)

"When you are young, you study the masters for their techniques and style. But when you are older, you study them for their emotion, feeling." (Chiang Chao-Shen)

"The real master of art expresses feeling rather than technique, which is achieved through intuition rather than education." (Quang Ho)

"One can be a technical master – full of craftsmanship, but not in most senses an artistic master." (oliver)

"Raphael and Titian seem to have looked at Nature for different purposes; they both had the power of extending their view to the whole; but one looked only for the general effect as produced by form, the other as produced by colour." (Sir Joshua Reynolds)

"In the hands of a master, light and shade is one of the great qualities of art." (John Sloan)

"To become masters, we need to be able to tap our inner creativity, and then combine the inspiration we receive from within with the technical skill that has come from years of experience.' (Marney Ward)

"That which they call abstract is the most realistic, because what is real is not the exterior but the idea, the essence of things." (Constantin Brancusi)

"When you see a fish you don't think of its scales, do you? You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water... If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit." (Constantin Brancusi)

"Do not copy nature too much. Art is an abstraction." (Paul Gauguin)

http://www.coppiniacademy.com/sherrie_mcgraw.htm

Painting with a Concept
by Sherrie McGraw

At first, learning to paint must include painting things well. This is reasonable. Consequently, most painters feel they have succeeded in this quest when they can paint the subject convincingly and capture a look of reality. However, any thinking person might ask if more is possible than this technical proficiency.

If you have ever been moved by a great work of art, you may have wondered if it possesses something else. ''How can paint, shapes, color, and edges be so compelling?'' Paintings with more impressive technique often lack this ability to move the viewer. Instead, they impress with rendered detail and inspire wonder at the work involved. Some may lack technical prowess and instead rely on sentiment or storytelling. Some may simply depend on bravura brushwork.

Standing before a great painting, the inquisitive painter must wonder where the magic lies. The image compels you to examine the surface beauty and return again and again, leaving a lasting impression. What is the lure?

The underlying culprit is the concept. Rather than seeing each object as a separate entity, concept creates a relationship between objects, thereby creating something greater than the whole. This underlying visual message creates a beauty beyond subject matter and is the real reason behind the painting. Abstract ideas, though difficult to grasp, directly affect the development of an artist. The less personal and the more universal the motive, the more compelling and sublime the statement becomes.

The Concept
From the book:  Oil Painting Secrets from a Master
David Leffel
Paraphrased

If you just copy your subject matter you're missing ninety per cent of the art. 

Visual concepts must be understood before you can learn to paint.  Concepts are plans for solving problems of light, air/space, dimensions or form color, value, edges.  How the painting will be read, the value range, the colors that will be used, the brushstrokes, etc. 

Great paintings are simple in concept.  Great paintings have one essential visual idea.  They have an underlying idea about color, shapes, values, edges, alone or in combination.   These are things that paint can do.  The idea, or visual concept, creates a relationship between objects. 

This is an idea that you find exciting or meaningful to the extent that you are willing to put in the hard work of abstracting from reality and showing others in paint what it is you find important. 

You must have this fixed in your mind and work towards it in the final work.  Others may look at your chosen subject and easily miss what is so obvious to you.

On your canvas you do not merely recreate the subject in paint.   Knowing what can be done with paint you are saying something in this scene connects me with a universal truth, with an elevating thought, or an inexpressible feeling-tone.

Examples of Concepts (mood)
1.  Value range
2.  Low Value and Light - mystery and moodiness
3.  Movement of Light, e.g. from left to right.
4.  Light and Shadow (Chiaroscuro)
5.  Color
6.  How little color can be used
7.  How much empty space can be used
8.  Mostly grays, vivid color for center of interest
9.  Intensity vs. neutral
10. Shape
11. Edges - soft vs. hard

http://www.gatheringofartists.com/epitome/content/
index.php?option=content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=52

Basic Composition

Written by Leo Winstead   Thursday, 12 February 2004
Before I begin, I should say that the following information is by no means complete.  It is merely my attempt to address one issue that I believe many artists contend with:  namely, composition. When dealing with composition in painting, particularly informal composition where elements from left to right or top to bottom vary significantly, it is important to keep in mind that the entire image and not just the focus of the image has to be taken into account.  Also, certain types of composition convey certain ideas.  An image that has lots of diagonals conveys dynamism.  A triangular composition conveys strength and resolve.  A circular composition is often used to convey the idea of unity and wholeness.  If you wanted to illustrate, say, a princess holding her infant son with a dragon emblem behind them, one way you could approach it would be to compose the image as a circle within a circle, with the mother and child at the center and the emblem swirling around them.  Below is an abbreviated list of composition types and the emotion/theme they best convey:   Compositional Type/Shape Emotion/Theme Horizontal Peace, Quiet, Aftermath, Death Diagonal Action, Opposition, Energy Circular Love, Unity, Perfection, Completeness Vertical Hope, Fear, Growth, Rise and Descent Triangle Strength, Assimilation, Power Square Balance, Order, Resolve To give you an example, I will use my painting "Skull Mountain" to explain how composition in your work can heighten and enhance the theme or themes you want to convey.  My initial idea was to create an image in the spirit of Frazetta, which conveyed a sense of victory in the face of impending doom.

Let's Learn to Critique
These are not the most helpful critiques.  Will look for better ones.

Critique of picture,  try to ignore the subject matter...
http://www.gatheringofartists.com/epitome/content/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=88
To me the biggest problem is values.  See what you think.

These are superficial critiques.  This pictures has major design problems which limit its potential. 
http://www.gatheringofartists.com/epitome/content/index.php?option
=content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=0&limit=1&limitstart=0

A shaded drawing, not a real painting.
http://www.gatheringofartists.com/epitome/content/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=87

http://www.ndoylefineart.com/glossary.html

Read about the creative process.

From importanceofphilosphy.com

Painting

Painting is the selective recreation of reality through the use of a two-dimensional drawing. It is a category of art that includes drawings, paintings, and sketches. Its purpose is to clarify particular concepts by making them directly perceivable. By bringing a concept to the level of perception, it makes it possible to contemplate the subject in essentials with visual clarity.

Making a concept visually perceivable is achieved through a process of creating a visual integration. Since concepts are formed by selecting essential criteria, and abstracting away any non-essential characteristic, the resulting mental unit consists of only the important features. Similarly, a visual integration is possible. By abstracting away the non-essential visual features, the painting is left with a visual equivalent of a concept. If done correctly and well, the painting will portray the essential characteristics of an object.

The result of such a visual integration is that the subject will look not only real, but will appear to be the perfect representation of an object. This in spite of the fact that one may never have seen an object that looked quite like it. It will look like the subject should look, and not what it does look like.

Esthetics
http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/index.html
?http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Esthetics_Painting.html

What is Esthetics?

Esthetics is the study of art. It includes what art consists of, as well as the purpose behind it. Does art consist of music, literature, and painting? Or does it include a good engineering solution, or a beautiful sunset? These are the questions that are aimed at in esthetics. It also studies methods of evaluating art, and allows judgments of the art. Is art in the eye of the beholder? Does anything that appeals to you fit under the umbrella of art? Or does it have a specific nature? Does it accomplish a goal?

Why is Esthetics important?

Art has existed through all of recorded human history. It is unique to humans because of our unique form of thinking. Its importance is based on this nature, specifically, man's ability to abstract. Art is a little understood tool of man to bring meaning to abstract concept. Esthetics is important because it delves into the reason why art has always existed, the burning need of mankind through the ages to see the world in a different, clear way. It further evaluates art by the standard of human life, and whether it accomplishes the job of satisfying man's intellectual needs, or whether it tends to hurt or make worse those needs.

What are the key elements of a proper Esthetics?

Art is a selective recreation of reality. It's purpose is to concretize an abstraction to bring an idea or emotion within the grasp of the observer. It is a selective recreation, with the selection process depending on the value judgments of the creator. These value judgments can be observed and evaluated via the field of ethics.

Art
http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/index.html
?http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Esthetics_Painting.html

Art satisfies an important need for men. It brings complex abstractions closer to the perceptual level, enabling men to more fully grasp them. Art accomplishes this through a process of embodying the abstraction in the form of a concrete.

Art does not just concretize the abstraction by merely creating an instance of it. Art attempts to embody the abstraction. It creates a single instance, but the instance is based on the essential nature of the concept. When we form a concept, we omit all of the non-essential qualities. The abstraction that remains is based only on essential characteristics. It is these characteristics that art tries to produce in a single concrete form.

The result really is an embodiment of the abstraction. The product retains only what the artist deems important. Since it consists of just the essential aspects of the abstraction, and contains all of the essentials, it allows the abstraction to be grasped directly as an entity.

The importance of this tool of cognition is incalculable. By portraying the abstraction in this way, it gains the immediacy of a perceivable concrete. It magnifies the usefulness of the concept by allowing a more thorough integration and understanding of it. Instead of trying to understand things in term of an abstraction of many entities, the single concrete embodiment serves as a perfect example of the abstraction.

To bring the abstraction into clarity, it needs to be created in its essential form. To be meaningful, it needs to be created in a recognizable form. To this end, art is a selective re-creation of reality.

Art is selective. The artist must pick not only the form in which he intends to create the art, but he must pick a subject. This subject is not random. It is picked by the artist for some significance it has for him. The choice of the subject is based on the artist's philosophy. Importance to the artist is based on his world-view. The subject is that which the artist believes has a wide-reaching importance to himself. The content is based on his sense of life. His emotional evaluation of the aspects of reality he finds important.

Art is a re-creation. It is created in order to grasp clearly an aspect of the artist's world view. If the concretization of the idea happened naturally, one would not have a problem of bringing the abstraction to a perceivable form. It would already be done. Art is an attempt to fill a gap. It is an act of creation to bring into the world a clear representation of an aspect of one's world-view.

Art is a re-creation of reality. Its purpose is to embody an idea, showing that it can exist in reality. If the creation required non-real qualities in order to be able to embody the idea, it could not be convincing. If an artist, in trying to show that man should live a life devoid of 'materialism', had to resort to describing an imaginary being that required no food, protection from the elements, or any other human need, it would rob the creation of the ability to concretize an abstraction in order to achieve further understanding or efficacy.

An artist does need to create that which doesn't exist already, or in a sufficiently consistent form. To this end, the artist isn't replicating reality. Fiction is a form of art that doesn't mirror reality. But the artist, in order to convey the message, must not only show what the message is, but how it can exist in reality. If he fails in the second half, it will undermine the first. To this end, the imaginary or impossible can supplement the art, but cannot serve as its foundation. This is why art needs to be a selective recreation of reality.

Why Men Need Art

The word "art" is used so often and so loosely, it seems it can be applied to anything at all. A word that can be used to describe anything, though, is a word that has no meaning. To derive the meaning of the word, we must first explore what human need it fulfills.

Man is a conceptual being. He thinks not only in specifics, but in abstracts. To gain further knowledge of the world, he builds abstracts on top of abstracts. Each step higher brings him a wider grasp of reality.

Each step also takes him farther from the clarity that comes from direct perception. This is not to say that his abstractions are false. If his use of reason is vigorous enough, the abstractions will correspond to reality. The difficulty is in then using the abstractions for further reasoning.

Concepts are integrations of particulars. They can be formed through integration of perceptions directly, or they can be formed through abstractions of other concepts. The second route, while producing valid concepts, does not require the perception of the particulars. They are induced, but need not have been directly perceived.

This brings us to the crux of the problem. Many abstracts lack the immediacy of those based on perception. The higher the level of abstraction, the more difficult it is to fully grasp it. Art is the tool that makes it possible to grasp complex abstractions.

Watercolor on  Paper, 5-ply Bristle Board & Golden Absorbent Ground ...as time allows
(But you may do acrylics, gouache, etc. .. ) 

Well before class please read through this page and http://www.buildart.com/secrettobetterpainting.htm 
Thanks!

Demo Theme:  The Cityscape 

Review the first steps of the picture making process. 

Class:
Select an Artistic Concept 
Make thumbnail sketches.
Make small painting on paper. 

Lunch Break 

Demo:  Absorbent Ground and watercolor.
Class painting  
Discuss the art of critiquing.

Reference material for three paintings
Sketch book, pencils, pens, etc.
Brushes
Paint
Paper  Suggestions: 
Hot press, Cold press, 3 or 5 ply Bristle board , 
Board /panel  and tape  
Easel - optional
Spray Varnish - Optional - Blair for Acrylics or similar.
Hair Dryer
Mister/Spray bottle

New:  Pigtails...a watercolor demo

News Flash:  Just discovered a new surface for watercolor today, Mar 21. It's absorbent, tougher than paper, you can lift out easily, washes go on nicely.  What is it?  Come the the workshop and find out!  This is my first try with it, a little study:

Hint:  Pat at Golden Artist Colors has offered to provide product for the workshop.

If you have never painted with watercolor and have no materials, give me a call...208 267 0685.

 Dick Blick Art Materials

Critique

Bring one or two paintings for critique.  Time permitting at the end we will discuss them:  strong points and areas for improvement.  Becoming your own best critic is essential.  This may be the most important part of the workshop.

If you've been wanting to loosen up then you may like Yupo paper.  We're flexible.  If you would rather work in acrylics on gessoed panel or another water media or another surface, that is fine, too.

Please read and digest the material in the left column that I have assembled from all over the place.  Read and digest.  It's a little disorganized and not finished, but worth the time to study it.  I think you will find it very interesting and instructive.

Email me with any questions, comments or suggestions.

Recommended Books

These are the best books on my shelf.  Some are more advanced.  No particular order.  These links will take you to Amazon.com, but you might check your local library...ask about interlibrary loans, or a used book store.

FEATURING

MASTERING
ATMOSPHERE & MOOD
IN WATERCOLOR
BY Joseph Zbuvic

A very good book by a very good artist who really does understand how to turn a ho-hum painting into art and he can explain it very simply!!!

 Tom Lynch 100 Watercolor Workshop Lesson Charts
His major theme is "think like an artist".  He makes that point from every angle imaginable in an entertaining way.  Great paintings, colorful, inspirational, clear.  Intended for watercolor, but very useful for any medium.

 The Creative Artist: A Fine Artist's Guide to Expanding Your Creativity and Achieving Your Artistic Potential

 Painting More Than the Eye Can See

 60 Minutes to Better Painting: Sharpen Your Skills in Oil and Acrylic

How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself: Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects

Painting Techniques of the Masters

 Composition: A Painter's Guide to Basic Problems and Solutions

 Norman Rockwell Illustrator

 Work Small, Learn Big: Sketching With Pen & Watercolor

 Paint Red Hot Landscapes That Sell: A Sure-Fire Way to Stop Boring and Start Selling Everything You Paint in Oils

 Harley Brown's Eternal Truths for Every Artist

 Conversations in Paint

 The Pleasure of Painting: Three Mediums, Oil, Watercolor, Acrylic

 Painting by Design

Links

Textural Effects for Watercolor Painting

How to "Read" a Painting

Elements of Visual Design Explained

Watercolor Sunflowers on Yupo Paper a demo

Painting Loosely on Yupo

Artist's Toolkit

The Elements of Art - good

Elements of Art

Painting Critique Checklist

How to Critique a Painting

Mr. Picasso Head

Cybernetic art program - amazing

Dip 'n Daub - abstract art generator 358k

Cityscapes - artificial creativity, good one

Generative Art - program <300k