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A Technical Approach to Painting - Page 4

 

I should also mention that during the painting process, if I see something that I want to add, delete or change, I go ahead and do it. I do not limit myself to the line drawing on my canvas. There have been times when I fully intended to include something in a painting, but during the painting process it became apparent that that something threatened to weaken the piece instead of strengthening it, and so for the sake of the overall composition, I took the thing out. Pyle taught that it is not always what you put into a picture that makes it stronger, but what you take out of it.
Painting is a curious thing sometimes. It can be almost as if the painting has a mind of its own. It will sometimes “talk” to me and tell me what it ought to be. It may resist my attempts to make it what I think it ought to be, and then we have to reach a compromise. The process can be difficult and at times infuriating, but it is always a challenge which I enjoy. I consider myself extremely blessed to make my living at something that many people look forward to doing in the years following retirement. I don’t give any thought to retiring myself although I think about traveling more and painting - less, I almost said. But I don’t think I can go very long without painting. It’s simply the thing that I, being a born artist, do. It’s one of the things that makes me me.


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© Bradley Schmehl 2002