My sister and brother are musicans and I've listened to both run the scales in practice sessions: over and over again the same thing, working towards perfection, clarity and warming up their fingers and brains. So, they might ask: Do artist practice their scales? The answer is a resounding YES (altho for some of us, not often enough). I admit that when I tackle an area to practice and work on it with no regard or care of the outcome, I am always rewarded (just like the teacher says). But I also confess that the thrill of jumping right into the full monty (without aid of a sketch or a thumbnail or color palatte) seems to call to me and distract me from the practice I will later prove I so badly need.
So much for confessions. What I wanted to share today is my equivilant of scales. This is an exercise prosposed by Carol Marine in which you take one object and paint it 8 times allowing only 10 minutes for each rendition. My painting group tried this last week and believe me, we were all exhausted when we broke for lunch. I had an adorable little red pepper and while we could turn the object between sessions we could not paint one stroke past the buzzer ringing. I made it to 7 editions and while I can't say that #7 is much better than #1 I did get better at a system for tackling it. I never did get a full background finished. This certainly trains the eye and the brain as well as pointing out your personal demons (indecision, lack of confidence in strokes...). And so I share....enjoy!
You used an analogy to music. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteThere are eight notes in a scale and eight panels in this exercise. Coincidence? :)
Great observation! Only my 8th note is a bit flat!!
ReplyDeletegood observations Cindy, it is so necessary to practice but jumping in is so much fun. I do love your peppers
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy, thanks for stopping by Brush and Baren so I'd know to stop by HERE! Great exercise- the best kind of exhaustion. I'll be back!
ReplyDelete10 minutes? You did those in 10 minutes? I am SO envious of this speed!!! They're great.
ReplyDeleteBTW, can you alter your blog so I can scroll and see multiple posts? Rather than having to click on the next one?
Will see if I can figure that out Ellen, thanks.
ReplyDelete