My Creative Process in OIl Painting When in the Studio

I respond to whatever gets my attention by grabbing large amounts of information about it in sketches, color studies, photographs and written notes.  I might not use it for a painting right away, rather I might chose to archive all  this for when I'm ready to make a painting.  I'm most likely to make a series if it's something that really intrigues me.    

When I am ready to make a painting, I study all the information then make sketches trying to familiarize myself with the images within the scene.  Most likely this is when I will discover a pattern of light that will be central to the painting as well as a pattern of dark that will be its structure.  A notan study usually follows.  All this is the beginning of the composing process which then continues throughout the painting.

When I'm ready, I'll decide on a canvas size and format, then do a sketch on the canvas with a N55 Tombow pen or a small brush with a wash of dark.  Once the sketch is done, it is important that i let it rest, walk away from it for a while and let what has happened sink in.   

During the next phase, I'll tone the canvas with a middle value transparent oil wash  or acrylic underpainting complementary to the overall color reading of the scene.  Immediately, with a large brush dampened with Turpenoid, I lift out the light patterns. This might require several edits.  After I'm satisfied with what I have, I develop the dark structure.  Important to this phase is that i squint, squint, squint.  Only by squinting can I discover these all important patterns.   Again, when this phase is done, it's important to let it rest.  To walk away and let this phase soak in. 

I think of the painting ready to take over and guide me at this point.   And I think of the subject matter as the teacher, instructing me about what's there.  It is at this point that i decide on the palette to use for the painting.  I do that by soaking in the colors I'm studying then coming up with a limited number of colors that, when mixed to one degree or another, have the inherent ability to give me the colors I'm seeing. 

From here until the end of the painting I cannot describe the process because this is where I allow my intuition to take over.  The painting will evolve according to what's best for it no matter what happens to be in the scene.  There is one thing I can describe:  at least three times during the painting's development, it needs a rest.  It needs for me to go away and give it time to settle down into whatever phase of development it is in.   Beyond that, I give the painting free range to go where it needs to go.

I think by setting the structure in the beginning through a deliberate left-brain activity, I have set the stage for the intuition to take over and not trash the painting.  

On the other hand, if I don't set the stage with a structure, there is a chance the intuition will get so self-expressive that nobody will be able to read the painting.  I prefer the wholistic balance between the deliberate and the spontaneous.  It is within this balance that I can experience my most satisfying creative moments and the results is usually a good painting. 

Ten Commandments for Composing a Painting

1.  Study subject intensely before committing a single brush stroke

2.  Squint while studying subject

3.  Search for patterns of light while squinting

4.  Search for patterns of dark while squinting

5.  Extract design pattern from findings of 3 and 4 and develop

6.  While painting look three times, think twice, paint once. (courtesy

Robert Genn)

7.  Keep every color applied consistent with the temperature of the light

source.  (Courtesy Richard Schmid)

7.  Edit between sessions not while painting

9.  Taken advantage of compositional tools throughout.

10. Ignor whatever doesn't belong.