Painters Online Logo

Login/register

Studio

What was your light-bulb moment?

Welcome to the forum.

Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.

Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.

Hang on Studio Wall
Showing page 2 of 2
Author
Message

Michael Davies

  • New Member
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 2
Posted
I remember a West Country Artist John Christian living near Dartmoor - his advice was to finish your watercolour so that when done  the whole paper was wet /damp. This was an eye-opener to me having taken ages fiddling with small brushes carefully and producing tight but dead pictures..
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 20429
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 7165
Posted
Interesting advice there - not easy to do, though I can see the value of working over your whole painting and not waiting while parts dry: precious few watercolourists I've know would work that way: it'd take a lot of nerve!   Do you know where I could see some of John Christian's work, and better still any demonstrations of his doing it?  
DSCF4152

Anonymous User

  • Esteemed User
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 1263
Posted
Depending on the effect/s you require - patience and a little planning ahead to reserve the white of the paper for highlights. There's a lot of advice out there, pick out the method that suites the style you are happy with. 

Tanja G.

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 144
Posted
A very exciting topic:) my big light bulb a few months ago was an artist who said: for me, the most important rule in watercolor painting is, that there are no rules. to understand them in their entirety, you would haveto hear them yourself. Another Light Bulb was my father (a painter by profession), who often used to say about painting: the minimum IS the maximum. So when i said to myself: give EVERYTHING - he said: give as little as possible :) I'm still practicing..... 😅
IMG_6882

Paul (Dixie) Dean

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 14061
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 4576
Posted
We use the saying little is more, it certainly applies to painting, another saying it’s what you don’t paint that  makes the painting in other words dot add to much . 

Sheila Camp

  • New Member
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 1
Posted
For me, it was the discovery that different colours have different properties; that probably sounds very dull, but learning that some are transparent, some opaque, some permanent, others not, some granulating etc has really helped me to improve (I think!) I wish I’d known about this years ago.
Emma Price on 15/10/2022 09:13:21
It doesn’t sound dull at all, Emma…and I totally agree with you as a ‘Newbie’ !
DSC04115

Lynda Green

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 32
Posted
Mine was some advice from an artist friend who said, ‘the light is only there because of the dark’.

olivia simon

  • New Member
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 2
Posted
I like to check stock photos and images to find some inspiration. It works for me. Recently I found mirage images on depositphotos. For me it is great sourse of new ideas, plus its stock photo libraries contain an extensive range of images covering diverse subjects, styles, and themes. This vast selection allows me to find the perfect photo that fits my specific needs. Useful site if you need high quality pics.

Edited
by olivia simon

Untitled

Rikard Lindby

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 44
Posted
Not really sure if it qualifies as a light bulb moment. But I've recently come to find that more opaque colours (Naples yellow, venetian red etc) amplifies the flatness of surfaces, like house walls etc. So I try to keep that in mind when painting/sketching. So more transparent colours for human skin, vegetation etc, and more opaque for things that are flat. Makes it a bit more lively and dynamic when used together. Might not be a universal truth though. 

Edited
by Rikard Lindby

Bob Smith

  • New Member
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 3
Posted
I remember a West Country Artist John Christian living near Dartmoor - his advice was to finish your watercolour so that when done  the whole paper was wet /damp. This was an eye-opener to me having taken ages fiddling with small brushes carefully tight but dead pictures..
Michael Davies on 25/01/2023 21:05:13 I totally agree with you

Edited
by Bob Smith

our Lady2

Jim Morris

  • Forum Expert
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 626
Posted
Totally au-fait with Tanja G's post...... I've never wanted to paint a Sistine Chapel ,ceiling, but I'm still taking great satisfaction from painting less and less to get my result across.  It's purely a personal view, but to me a painting has to look like a painting; an expression of the way the artist sees things, or what is art all about? (the age- old question). We also have to not paint to impress others but be satisfied with what we ourselves do.  Is a cave painting not an artist's view of with life just as much a personal expression as a Caravagio, Picasso or Canaletto work? End of day you are your own best/worst critic as to what's important. Candles came long before  light-bulbs after all. (-:

Edited
by Jim Morris

Showing page 2 of 2