Things I’ve learned about art
Monday, December 25th, 2006A list of things I’ve learned (or am in the process of learning), in no particular order and for no particular reason:
1) Don’t buy palettes with square wells. Palettes seem to be a very personal thing, with people preferring everything from styrofoam plates (cheap and disposable) to sheets of plexiglass (scrapes clean). A lot of acrylic painters really like the Sta-Wet palette, which I’ve never tried. Nevertheless, there is one generalization about palettes that I can make with confidence: square wells are bad. If you are like me, and are very lazy about cleaning your palettes, they will be ruined immediately because the dry paint will NEVER come out of the little corners. Even if you are not like me and clean out your palette promptly, you will still spend the best years of your life bent over a sink trying to get the paint out of the little corners. (My personal preference, for what it’s worth, is a combination of a porcelain flower-shaped palette and a bunch of small air-tight plastic cups, which can keep paint moist for literally six months or more.)
2) Don’t be afraid to get messy–because it will happen. And what I really mean by that is “Don’t wear your very favorite and almost brand-new t-shirt that you fell in love with on the Internet and then actually bought.” And if you are stupid enough to wear your very favorite t-shirt, don’t do it while mixing up a couple of nice earth tones, which by their very nature stain things (paper, canvas, cotton, etc), and whatever you do, don’t accidently flip your palette knife–covered in paint–off your palette and onto your brand-new very favorite t-shirt. Because even if you run without hesitation to the laundry room and submerge the shirt in cold water and every stain remover you own including bleach, it will not come out. (I’m serious; my mom soaked the shirt in a bleach solution and while the t-shirt came out completely unscathed, the stain remained.) So, uh, yeah. Be careful. And wear crappy clothes because if you don’t, your paint will know and it will conspire against you.
3) Don’t stress about color theory. A lot of people will probably disagree with me about this, but a lot of people might agree with me, too. My theory about color theory is that mostly what it does is explain and justify things that we already know and can pretty much figure out through eyeballing and a little experimentation. I mean, it’s good to know some basic concepts and vocabulary like complementary colors; primary, secondary, and tertiary colors; warm and cool colors; and the like. But other than that? If it looks good on your canvas, it’s probably good color theory. A little bit of experimenting while you mix colors will teach you a lot, as will spending a lot of time looking at other people’s art. But I think a lot of it is instinctual, or at least picked up unconsciously the longer you paint and look at art. Personally, I’m a fan of limiting the number of different colors I use in any given painting (my wallet is also a fan of this policy) and making sure the one or two main colors have a good degree of contrast. Learn by doing–it’s a lot more fun. And if it looks crappy, just paint over it.
