Learning to Paint without Copying the Painting

     I have a student who is addicted to copying another artist’s work as a learning tool.   I have tried many strategies to build her foundational skills, but she just won’t trust her own instincts.  Since there is another major dust-up in the artist blog world about one artist infringing upon another’s work by creating a painting identical to the original, I thought I would share some ideas on how to learn from other artists without slipping into the trap of copying the work. 

     In Ancient Wisdom: Emerging Artist, there is a section on How to Mentor Yourself.  Here is an excerpt:

Try an Intensive Study

Set up your own intensive study program.  Select two or three artists who effectively demonstrate a technique you want to learn, and study their approach in order to teach yourself the underlying process.

For example:

Identify the artists that interest you and pull up their work on the computer or in books. Look for differences and similarities, going back and forth: how do they apply the paint, or use color temperature, or handle edges, or interpret subject matter?

Write out in bullet point fashion what you are noticing and refer to this information when you work, instead of the artwork images.   When you understand on this level it is far easier to incorporate the ideas through your personal interpretation and not unconsciously copy another’s style.  (page 51)

 

     Here is an excerpt from a worksheet I created when studying John Singer Sargent and Fechin:

o     Fechin paint application: thin hog brush strokes, looks like 2-3 value shifts in the color, very close, one stroke, change value, second stroke, change value, etc.  Darks appear to go on first, then lights on top.  Thicker paint pulled in to create an edge light against dark, dark first, then light, then a brush stroke at an angle to drag light over dark/dark over light very soft pressure, to soften edge.

o     Both use “spots” of the same color “around” the center of interest, subtle, to direct the eye. 

o     Both have the majority of the painting very loose, thin paint, then develop a thicker application with smoother/more finished edges in the center of interest

o     Sargent uses (background) a transparent for the dark (brown), then in the light areas, layers a cool light, then a thin dark, then a warmer light, and a warmer dark in the shadows – olive greens, Naples yellow, red iron oxide mixed loosely with white and with a darker cooler red – 3 values in the reds

o     Both artists use 3 values of a color in the mid tone areas where there is light, very loose cooler darks, thicker paint in area of interest, spots of color/pattern in area of interest, more abstract in supporting areas.

o     Dramatic value contrast, primarily achieved in the mid tone area with a small accent white, small accent dark

o     White accent  works with darkest dark, or darkest mid tone, to become the center of interest

o     Light mid tones are warmer, darker mid tones are either warm or cool and used to direct the eye.  Sargent uses a cool dark in the shirt next to the boy’s warmer mid tone light face, and the bottom of the shirt is a warmer dark but very close to the same value, thinner paint, the cooler darker area is more opaque, solid.

o     Fechin in winter scene keeps all of the mid tones warm, reserving the cool for the darkest dark accent in the water and the darks in the windows.  Color range is yellow ochre, violets, cobalt blues, (windows first stroke violet, second stroke cobalt blue, same value, third stroke highlight slightly lighter cobalt blue) burnt sienna/red iron oxide.  Uses the same color palette in Taos landscape, snow – first stroke white, top stroke blue/white. 

 

     Many artists rely on photo references while trying to learn to paint – I remember one fellow art student who began a lovely large abstract painting. Her colors were vibrant, her strokes loose and energetic, and then she opened a book about Richard Diebenkorn and her painting process changed – she would look at the book, look at her painting, and then copy some bit of something that she saw in the book that she admired.  Over the course of several days her painting lost all of the original spark and became a dull, lifeless copy of Diebenkorn’s style.  While the change was very obvious to the other students, she seemed oblivious to the similarity. I remember she was frustrated that no one else appreciated what she thought was her best effort yet.

     I want to believe that most artists are really unaware of how heavily their work can be influenced by that of another artist: when they are actually looking at the reference while working on their own painting they unconsciously incorporate far more of the original work than they realize.  If you are trying to improve your technique, try an intensive study.  Think in terms of discovering a process and then interpreting it through your own voice.

 I structured Ancient Wisdom: Emerging Artist as a Business Plan - but it's unlike any Business Plan you may have encountered.  Here is another excerpt:

Remember this: your Vision Statement opens your mind to the possibilities and directs your goals, while your Executive Summary describes the roadmap you will take to reach those goals.

Direct Engagement with your art on a daily basis enables you to experience your creative life in the moment, and balances the business pressures you will face in the marketing and promotion of your work.

The combination of these elements will help keep you grounded in the real world, without undermining your dreams.

 

Ancient Wisdom: Emerging Artist is now available on Amazon here.  

 

Comments

[Phil Kendall]

Its on my Kindle and its a good read too, well worth the UK £5.96.

[sue]

Phil - here is the link to Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist in the UK Kindle store
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006FL9IG0

[Phil Kendall]

Shame I cannot get your book onto my Kindle in the UK.

[sue]

Maggie - great ideas. It's so important for the artist to be able to teach herself the skills and then to trust in her own interpretation instead of comparing herself to a Master's work.

Joyce - thank you! and what a good idea about a book club/discussion group. I will work on ideas about how to make that happen.

[Joyce Wycoff]

Sue ... how about an online book club around your book?

[Joyce Wycoff]

Great information! I just ordered your book on amazon and look forward to learning more.

[maggie]

I agree with you that it's not good to get fixated on copying the masters, but it can be helpful. I like your intensive study recommendation.

Here are two other ways to learn what the masters did without slavishly copying them: 1. Crop and blowup just a small portion of the work. A hand, or an eye, say. Then copy it, brush stroke for brush stroke. If it's been blown up enough, you're going to have to recreate the now gigantic brush stroke by using many smaller brushstrokes.
2. Copy the work, adding a self portrait—in that style, paying attention to composition—into the painting.

Eventually all artists will find their true and own style, if they spend enough time behind the brush.

[Distance Learning]

What an achievement for an artist. What training or skills did you go through to get such result?

[Casey Klahn]

Very well written, Sue. I appreciate your methodical methods for trying to teach your students "stuck" on a master.

[Cody DeLong]

Excellent point Sue. Thought process is the all important element here. Learning ideas from the masters is a great way to expand your own thinking, but stop any literal copying as soon as you catch yourself doing it. Your own journey of discovery is what makes your art special, and collectable.