On this site, you get to read a lot about people's painting methods, their approach to a painting and what rules (if any) that they adhere to. I have heard a lot of people say that they just get on and paint and don't worry about anything else. No fretting over the technicalities of their chosen medium, no angst over decision making - just a full on approach - load the brush and slosh away. Other people plan meticulously - choose the colour palette, make sketches to check the composition and tonal values, try to stick to some guidelines in order to produce a successful painting. I wonder if you can tell the difference between the two approaches when you view a painting for the first time and don't know the artist? I have found that loose paintings (especially in watercolour) are always thought to have be done by people with the gung ho - just get on with it approach and the more precise ones are the work of the committed planner. But is that really the case? In my experience, loose paintings are slow to produce and take a great deal of planning. Also, what makes people sit in one camp or the other? I confess to liking the technicalities of painting. I suck up every little morsel of information that could help me produce a better painting. I heard one recently that delighted me. It is - 'the darkest shadow on your lightest object in a painting should always be lighter than the lightest shadow on your darkest object' - reasoning is that this it how your viewer will know that the lightest object is very light and in fact is probably white.' It was a revelation as that just hadn't occurred to me and just proved to me that if I ignored these technicalities, then I could have missed out on knowing something that I could use to good effect. I wonder if it is something as simple as a personality thing whether you are a planner or splosher? Is it a man/woman thing and if so are the women more meticulous than the men? I think I have heard more men say that they just paint and ignore everything else that is said about painting. I think I fall between two stools in some respects - I am a techno lover who wants to be a bit more of a splosher. It's either that or I am just plain nosy and I like to know everything about everything. I would be interested to hear what other people think they are - a P or an S?