Think about it:  visual artists are the only genre of art makers asked to perform before practicing.  Musicians, athletes, actors, dancers all take for granted the necessity of practice in order to perform well.  The great pianist and composer Jan Paderewski said, "If I miss one day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it."   The more masterful one becomes, the more important practice becomes.

But the art of daily practice--doing studies not meant to be shown, where ideas get explored and experimented with--has not been give the priority it deserves for the visual artist.  At the same time, master artists historically have spent many hours doing practice studies.  Perhaps it is this practice that has made them masters--their continuing to learn, to refine skills and to delve into new options rather than getting stuck in one place of mastery and going no further.

On the left are some of the practice studies Andrew Wyeth did for his painting, "Wind from the Sea" (right)/

My primary intention for these newsletter Tips and the videos is to emphasize the value of doing studies, to show you ways to isolate a single concept and practice it.  The demonstrations in the videos are quick studies. The are designed to show how to practice a new idea or to explore an existing one, just like a musician practices to keep skills refined or to learn a new piece. They are not intended to show you how to do a finish painting.  There are plenty of good online videos available for that.  (And plenty of awful ones, too.)

Try to keep a relaxed, playful attitude when practicing the exercises. Keep in mind that you are exploring possibilities, not making a painting. Be willing to do several practice sessions before launching into a painting. Push beyond the lesson to discover for yourself even more possibilities. After you feel comfortable with the principles being taught, to the point that you don't have to think about what you're doing, find a subject that lends itself to using the principles and THEN make a painting, retaining the same playful attitude. If you can do this, you will amaze yourself.