6"x4" oil on board. Another "Just throw it down and paint it!" painting. In all honesty, paintings are almost never true throw downs. It's rare that the subject lands just so as not to need at least a little adjustment. An artist will almost always back up, take it in and do a little shifting around for composition's sake (if you're a daily painter, you have approximately 30 seconds to do this). If adjustments aren't made ahead of time, they might find themselves shifting and morphing as they go. Sometimes this shifty dance is even a fun — it's as if the painting is growing, maturing, or telling you where it wants to go as you paint.
Posted March 13, 2009
