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Out of my comfort zone
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Message
Posted
A change is as good as a rest - Bari, you have a good sense of colour, especially obvious in the second painting.
I wonder - entirely incidentally - about the term "comfort zone", because I don't think I have one. I can probably draw most things, but can I draw them WELL? I can probably paint most things - abstracts apart: I don't have the right mind or outlook for those - but can I really exploit and push colour and tone as I'd wish to? The answers to both of those questions are, sometimes anyway, NO. Anything I start is accompanied by a degree of risk, and I can never be sure it's going to work - so I feel a degree of anxiety before starting anything new: but not comfort.
Posted
I agree that there may not be a comfort zone , it’s probably the area that you feel less stress etc working in and is more familiar too you. Out of comfort zone for me is doing something I’m not good at or something new ie portraits, thus causing that niggle and slight discomfort, really its worry it won’t work out. I find it quite exciting working in the not so comfortable zone , despite the worry etc. I don’t think we will ever be totally comfortable with what we do , it’s the nature of the beast that we call art.
Posted
I agree with Robert in as much that I get very anxious before starting a new painting (often putting it off), then I go through a combination of frustration and/or obsession and then relief when I've come out of the other side when it's finished. Bit of a rollercoaster really. I always feel I should push myself to do different things but then come back to what I like doing. As long as each time I can feel like I've learnt something (good or bad) then I settle for that, reminding myself I should enjoy the process as much as the outcome!
Posted
I’m fine sketching it our and doing the initial stages of blocking in etc. For me it’s about mid way when the painting starts to look ok , I start to worry about spoiling it or it not working out how I want it . I used to be a bit intimidated by a blank sheet and knowing where to start , but that seems to have eased off with experience. I do still,occasional get it wrong and have suddenly shift things about . I’m comfortable with watercolour, and painting certainly subjects but never totally relaxed , I support that’s why it’s exciting . I still look at my paintings and have that little bit of a wow it did that , but not in way that says I’m good, it’s the having created something from a few brush marks . Maybe that’s why I still love painting so much and still get a thrill out of it.
Edited
by Paul (Dixie) Dean
Posted
I find that since watching artists like Dave Usher and Steve Cronin on YouTube throughout the various lockdowns, I have learned a great deal about painting without drawing and this has removed any anxiety when painting for me. These two watercolour artists follow the Ron Ranson method of starting with a large brush and using it for as long as possible which takes away that nervousness at the start, using the smallest brush at the very end of the painting to define any detail. When we draw first, there is the tendency to focus on the detail at the start which makes the process full of angst and worry. I now only draw first when I choose to paint pen & wash, and the paint is applied in a very loose way, so it becomes a carefree process! I would be interested to know if anyone else has been influenced in a positive way by watching artists on YouTube during the lockdowns?
Edited
by Michael Battley
Posted
I watch Dave Usher; Alan Owen; Charles Evans; and a host of other painters from all over the world - much though I distrust the internet, Facebook, YouTube et al from a moral and political point of view, they have let me into more artists' studios than I could ever have visited otherwise. Have I learned from them - certainly I've learned from Alan; I can point to particular things he's taught me, whereas with most of the others I think I've absorbed information by a process of osmosis - one doesn't always agree, of course, with individuals' methods; or might admire them, but have no interest in painting like them. It's still fascinating to see how they work - and generally speaking, watching these videos makes me itch for the sketch-pad and paint brush; it's very easy for painters to think they're entirely on their own and therefore - why bother? These films help to counteract that negativity.
Big shapes, big brushes at the outset - yes, Michael: that's probably the best advice for almost any painter (perhaps not for miniaturists, which I couldn't be because I'm too short-sighted). Go for early detail and nit-picking brushes and you'll find that almost nothing impairs your progress quite so effectively. Get those big shapes in, make them reasonably accurate in scale and mass, and you really are more than half way to a finished painting, and a satisfying one.
Edited
by Robert Jones, NAPA
Posted
I prefer to keep well clear of YouTube and most of these sites, there’s obviously good and bad material on them, perhaps I’ve been unlucky.
Oh yes, the late Ron Ranson was a master with the Hake, I booked him for a demo in the late 80’s at our art club.
Excellent evening, Ron was a great character and so entertaining! It’s not particularly my style of working but I’ve tried it and found it enjoyable, if not slightly stressful!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
There's a lot of bad material on YouTube - even so, I'd say you might be missing out on some interesting things if you avoid it completely. There's also Patreon - a site on which you can financially support the artists you're watching. I speak from ignorance here, since to my undoubted shame I haven't looked at the latter; but in theory at least, it should be far less occupied with dross, nonsense, and offensive content.