SNAP, DRAW, PAINT!
Snap, draw, paint is a practical approach to driving up creative output. It is the antidote procrastination .
Snap is all about capturing the image.
Draw getting your image/idea down on paper
Paint takes the image and play tunes with it in pigment.
Snap: We all carry a camera (our mobile phones) we don’t always carry a sketchbook; So, use the camera as your sketchbook. With it make lots of ‘drawings’.
At home we can select from those photographs, looking for shapes, drama, (the interest, and the interest is often in the foreground.)
Draw: Using your photo ‘sketch’ start your drawing. Use big mark-making materials; charcoal, graphite sticks, chalk. These drive shape/form and but detail and forces us to capture what appeals to us most in that particular image taken on our smart phone.
Now put the photograph to one side. You’re done with it. Continue to work on the drawing, add a spot of colour (optional)
When you feel the drawing is complete then add the detail, in ink, fine liner pens or markers enough to ensure that it holds together as a complete piece. Often these marks at the end of your drawing will be strong and ‘glue’ the whole piece together.
Paint: Take paper, canvas, MDF board, whatever your preferred support is. Then map out the barest essentials of your drawing. Include important points, such as shape and form not line. Avoid detail. To do this you can use markers, charcoal, thin paint on a brush. If using charcoal do ‘fix it’ to your support with hairspray so it does not smudge when you apply paint.
Now you are painting, building a painting, get down all the main forms.
Avoid too much in the foreground at the outset of your painting. Work through your idea, standing back to consider it often. Sometimes it is helpful to photograph each stage. This gives you a good third-party view of the direction of the piece.
Decide what is missing or what you might add. Maybe it is a motif or an idea from another painting that you have done in a similar place or with a similar subject.
Now you are finalising the painting, working on the foreground, this is the time to be bold. Add colour that might not naturally occur. Look at your colour wheel and figure out those complimentary colours that will cause your painting to dance.
SNAP, DRAW, PAINT Is an approach to making a start, it gets you out and about in the places that surround you. It avoids merely copying from photographs. This method forces us to consider why we were so very excited by that place, view, subject, in the first place! And it enables us to share it with other people in an interesting and unique way.
9 June 2023
Category: Art Practise