“One never knows what one is going to do. One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite different.” (-Pablo Picasso)

Well, Pablo, I certainly hear you on that one.
(Something tells me Picasso’s finished products still came out looking pretty nice, though.)

Value studies are a really good exercise: looking at objects and really trying to observe where the light is hitting, and where it isn’t, and how the resulting shadows and tonal contrasts contribute to the form of that object. It sounds so easy, and I totally grasp the concept, but when I go to put brush to paper, it suddenly becomes difficult. I try to practice exercises that push me to think about the shapes of what I’m painting, and the values I see in the object. You can see my hand-made values chart is wrinkled and scratched over time...but I don't always use this as often as I should; I'm trying to learn to judge this on my own, intuitively.

Lucy Willis, one of my favorite watercolor artists, has the most perceptive, keen eye for communicating light and shadows. She captures all of their nuances brilliantly. Look at these two images of hers and how beautifully she communicates light: (and look to my sidebar link for Lucy Willis, and click on "Image Library" to see some of her amazing work.) She never sketches first--she goes right in with paints and never uses masks, either. Her work is lovely.

Monotone studies like those Lucy advocates practicing are a good way for me to think more about the subject at hand without being concerned with color. I’ll tell myself: just shapes: focus on shapes and where that light is.

And trying to paint white objects in watercolor is a great exercise, since there is no white paint, but just the white of the paper itself. So, you need to be good at planning and anticipating in advance with watercolors just where you want to remember to leave some white…something else I need practice with!

"Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?” (-Pablo Picasso)

(Hmmmm...well, as it happens, I’m kind of interested in understanding that, too…)