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To this day, any subject that I paint, whether I am painting it as a detailed trompe-l'œil or an impressionistic pastel, I look at shapes and colors to get the image that I am going for. My painting that I have included in this blog, “Copper Pots and Spatulas”, was painted in this way. The reflections, in the bottom pot that show all of the kitchen tools that are in a crock that’s resting on a granite counter, may appear as though they were quite difficult and complicated to paint. However, when painting these reflections I broke the image down into colors and shapes, and the painting painted itself.  I didn’t start my art career thinking this way, and it got me into trouble.

“Be great at drawing before you pick up a paintbrush!” That advice is what I was told at a workshop many years ago. Drawing seemed impossible for me, so what did that mean? Years and years of sketching and drawing to try to get perspective and proportion correct before I could pickup a paintbrush? I didn’t want to draw…. I wanted to paint! I love color! I also heard, “Don’t erase! Start new and draw it again instead!” Erasing away gesture lines to where they should ultimately go [which I later learned was negative imaging] was easier for me than drawing the line in the correct spot.  Why shouldn’t I erase if it led me to the line that I wanted? Why should it matter what method I used if I got my artwork to look like I wanted it to? At that time, I thought that maybe I should give up my interest in painting and find a different art outlet. I have a tenacious tendency so I do not give up very easily. Before I would give up on painting, I decided to turn to my first love….. books!

I have always loved color, arranging and decorating, but I became a scientist. I had no formal art training but wanted to paint. I was staying home with my three sons, and I had decided to develop an interest that was all my own. Hearing the teacher at that workshop say that I should accomplish my drawing skills before I tried painting was very discouraging. I went to the library to see what the how-to books suggested.  Although several books repeated what the teacher said, I did find some that said to try painting in a spatial way instead. Looking for shapes instead of lines sounded good to me.

At first, when I was struggling, I was trying to draw the images and then paint them. I felt like I was fighting the canvas instead of working with it.  I read in the library books how some artists see things spatially instead of in a linear form. I decided to change my approach. I started painting shapes in the colors that I saw. Not looking at lines made seeing what I should paint much easier! Since the old way was for apprentices to copy the master until they were proficient, I copied paintings that I liked, looking at shapes and colors instead of subject matter. If I still struggled to get it right, I turned the reference piece upside down and my painting upside down and focused on the shapes and colors that I saw.  Much later I learned that this new technique forced my brain into right-brain mode, since there were no names for the shapes that I saw. By doing this, it made me see my subject in a spatial way, not a linear way. I also see negative space, the space around the object not the object itself, very easily. If I looked at that space around the object and use it for my reference, I could make objects look “right”.  I could be creating linear drawings for years, and I would not be accomplished at drawing.

If you are struggling with drawing or painting, give the spatial method a try.