Most of the exercises we do in my Modern Painting class
are geared toward letting go of the reference
(the sooner the better!)
in order to allow the painting to take over.
My favorite exercise is zooming in and cropping.
I set up a very busy still life with lots of odd, colorful objects.
We zoomed in on the objects, using view finders or phones
and did quick thumbnails focussing on design;
thinking about shapes of
varying sizes, values, colors, and textures.
We then did quick paintings of our favorite design.
Phil nailed it on this one.
Sharyn made up these colors
and it all works beautifully.
Robin used her new Himi gouache set
for this and the colors just sing!
I’ve always loved this exercise
because the reference becomes irrelevent
and the painting itself, becomes “the thing”.
I’m discovering that that is the first step to more
impactful and expressive paintings.