I am influenced by an old Chinese painter, who advocated that you should really study that mountain or subject of your choice, then turn your back and paint what you remember. If you do this, you will paint what really impressed you. A five-minute sketch will do the same thing. You will have sketched what is really important to you.  Another person sitting beside you will make an entirely different sketch. Two different sets of eyes, two different visions.

By simplifying, you cause your center of interest to become more important. If you are painting from a photo of a farm scene, a barn with a tractor and the tractor is what interests you, paint the tractor in detail. Simplify. Eliminate the detail from the barn. If your subject is a rose that you have just cut, really study that rose and how it is formed. Paint the rose in detail and paint a subdued version of the rest of the garden.

That is simplifying your painting. You might also want to simplify the equipment you work with starting with your palette and brushes. An early instructor had me buy a palette with 30 spaces for pigment. She also assigned me 30 colors to fill those spaces. Because I thought I should be using all those colors, I ended up making the most dreadful muddy paintings. Then I found a Ted Kautsky book. He painted with five colors and so I eliminated all that mud.  Today with my limited palette with the three primaries in both warm and cool colors, I have a really simplified palette.

How many brushes do you have? How many of them do you really use? My favorite brushes are two very ole fat orientals.  I paint loose so I do like big brushes, but I also have an assortment of brushes in various sizes. I do not stuff them all in one contains. I have large brushes in one container, small ones in another, very old oil painting brushes in another and still another with orientals. I guess I have a good number of brushes that I have accumulated. I do use most of them. Different subject matter calls for different brushes. It is the small brushes that are not used often. The oil brushes are never used since I only paint with aqua based paint.

The brushes you choose will depend on how loose or tight you paint and how large or small you paint. It will also depend on the medium you use. Whatever brushes you use take care of them and clean them well after each use.

Just as you have set aside pigments that you rarely use, you might set aside brushes that you have not used in a year or two. Keep them stored in your studio (or painting area) so you can quickly find them should you need them.  This will organize your studio and simplify its use.

by Aline Barker KWS