Beginning a painting with intuition, play and exploration 🤸🏻♂️
Today I have seven new panels on the long table in my studio - sanded and gessoed, ready to go.
And I’m very excited to begin! In the span of a painting’s creation, this is when I have the greatest opportunity to play freely, to experiment, to be reckless if that’s the mood I’m in. This is when there’s the highest likelihood of discovering something new in my work. This is when magic sometimes happens.
Because I’ve learned how freeing opening moves can be, “blank canvas paralysis” is not a problem!
Blank canvas paralysis?
When I first began painting, the sight of blank panels, empty canvases, or even a clean new page in an art journal evoked complex feelings.
I wanted to fill them with colour and bring them alive with my ideas. But I also felt frustrated if I didn’t have a clear idea of where I was going, and fearful of making a mess and ultimately failing to make a god painting. With that hanging over my head, I fretted over where to make the first mark, and felt the pressure of getting it - the first mark - right. The result was a sense of paralysis.
With experience I came to a crucial understanding: first marks - indeed marks made at any point in the development of a painting - can never be “wrong” in any permanent sense, because there are unlimited opportunities to change what I don’t like.
It often begins with charcoal
Starting with lines, especially smudgy ones, are a way of engaging quickly with a blank canvas. The high contrast of a dark mark on a clean, white surface feels exciting!
Immediately I want to make more marks! Smudge with my hand - mmmm, yes, that’s good. Turn the charcoal onto its side and make a wide swath - ooooh that’s delicious!
From there, I often add colour
- but really, it can go anywhere with my approach - which is total freedom to experiment and play.
I made this short video a while back, to show how I was beginning my most recent series. It illustrates how most paintings start for me, regardless of size, and regardless of the intention I may have for the painting. I hope you enjoy watching! And if you have any questions about what I’m doing or why, feel free to post a comment or a question below. I promise I will answer.
Quonset Hut is one of the paintings that emerged from the starts I showed you in the video!
Would you like to see how the rest turned out?
