WIN YOUR RACE

When new painters join Beyond the Brushes, it never fails — they paint at mach 10 without ever considering the repercussions.

The hardest lesson to learn is SLOW DOWN.

Too often, students assume they are getting better simply because they are painting more and more images, faster and faster. More often than not, students are merely reinforcing their current habits — often bad ones — not improving them.

Rather than addressing issues in a current painting, many times students start a new painting, or they “binge paint” several exercises at once. This is a predictor of eventual “failure” almost without exception. It would be much better to repaint the same image ten times and finally get it just right than to paint 10 images and make the same mistake in each and every one.

As growing artists, we aren’t just applying paint to canvas hoping we improve. We should be fine-tuning our technique by making corrections with every practice.

Without focused effort on improvement, painting becomes sort of like tying your shoes — you just do it without thinking. When this happens we begin to carelessly overlook small errors and miss daily opportunities for improvement.

Here are three tips for improving your painting technique:

WIN YOUR RACE

1. SLOW DOWN.

Slowing down is really the key to get any skill under your belt. The goal should be to progress through the painting smoothly — not quickly. Speed comes with experience.

2. PRACTICE AT THE EDGE OF YOUR ABILITIES.

Don’t aim too high or too low. Find that perfect sweet spot where you’re slightly uncomfortable but not so uncomfortable that you want to quit.

3. GET FEEDBACK.

Fresh eyes from someone you trust is always a great idea to help you improve.

If you find yourself saying, “I moving so S.L.O.W.!” Lemme tell ya’, fast growth is completely overrated!

When it comes to art — and especially to mastering art — f you rush to more advanced stages before you’re ready, if you focus too much on the finish line, you miss the strategy going on during the race. It’s not “if” you fail, but WHEN. Take your time and master each technique.

Create the fundamental habits that will make painting achievable and repeatable. Win your race!