Taming The Lion

Occasionally, one stumbles into a mood that prevents anything serious from being played out in the studio . . . . .or anywhere else.   I am not sure if this is just a spilling out of happiness . . . or a vacation from being too serious.    And I am still not sure of the source . . . .but I know in my soul that it is important to take on that sort of mood while operating a paint brush on occasion.

Eh?   What do you mean, Mike?   After all, isn’t learning to paint a serious pursuit?   Well, yes, it is.   In fact, it is one of the most serious forms of study that any sane person can take on.  But there must a be a time when us painters must throw much of our inborn caution to the wind, take a big risk and paint something in a manner not done before.   Putting paint down on a dry canvas or a dry piece of cotton paper is about as commonplace as it can get.   Change that surface so that the paint does different stuff with the paint than we are accustomed to trying to control . . . .that packs all sorts of failure risks!!

Aw!   Go ON!!   Take a risk!!   What have you to lose?    If you are a watercolor painter, try this . . . . . . with a big clean, water saturated sponge, wash down both sides of your paper a minimum of three times . . .  .wiping with lots of water . . .  .until the paper gives up all of its native stiffness.  It should have the consistency of a saturated rag.   Really!!

Once done, place the paper on your board so that it is perfectly in the place you would want in order to paint on it.   (Caution:  You may have to staple it down at some point, so be sure your paper is on a board that will accept stationary staples.)

Lay out the saturated paper.    Roll up a terry cloth hand towel in a very tight roll.   Hint:  fold it lengthwise first, then roll from one end of the long dimension.    Pressing firmly onto the paper roll the rolled up towel over the paper in order to take up the majority of the water on the surface, in the fiber of the paper and underneath the paper.    What will remain is a piece of fairly damp paper with no shiny spots on the surface.  

Use a flat, synthetic watercolor brush to apply the paint when the time comes to make marks.    Why synthetic?    It won’t hold much water in its bristles.   You will want to have the paper do most of the adding of water to the paint . . . . DO NOT saturate your brush.

Now, go ahead and paint what ever subject you like.   Lots is going to happen that you don’t expect . . . .  .beautiful ‘granulation’ . . . . soft, even fuzzy edges . . . . intermingling of colors in places you least want or expect . . . . values will significantly fade . . . .just about everything you would normally fight, in order to hold onto control will happen.

Go ahead . . . . . paint on it . . . take chances . . . what will happen if your brush is too wet?    What will happen as the paper begins to dry?    Yikes!   What if you make a mistake?    Can you wipe it up?   Can you lift?   Can you make a graded wash?   Can you give up control?   Well . . . . CAN YOU?

Here is the point:    The only way you will ever get to know your medium well enough to master it is to challenge it (and yourself) in every way you can!!   That’s right!    You must test it and test yourself so often that you get to the place where you can anticipate what it is going to do before it happens.

By going on a mental “vacation” and opening yourself up to courting absolute failure and letting happen what will happen, you will find that it is actually fun!!   That’s right, it is play!!   

There’s more to goof around with than just the paper and how dry it isn’t.   How about painting everything in a painting (and I do mean everything) with a three inch flat brush?   Or a big hake brush?   What if you confined yourself to just three colors?   Or, what if you put ox gall in your water?   What would happen?    Or, horrors!!!   Paint with your paper absolutely vertical!!    Could you stand it?   Or could you put yourself into a frame of mind to give it a go and let it do whatever it is going to do?

At some point in our painting life, we have to face every sort of challenge.   The masters never had much trouble with challenges because they actually practiced every possible thing that could happen and practiced how to handle the conditions that arose.  

Just because “it’s hard” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tackle it!!!!!    Get into that lion’s cage and tame the lion !!!    (You won’t die or even get scratched!)