I must admit list making does not come easily to me. After reading your letter I gave some thought Untitled
original painting to my process and I made a list.

1. Composition

2. Colour relationships and light source

3. Simplify

4. Be Fearless

5. You cannot have light without dark

6. Simplify

7. Brush marks and edges

8. Be Fearless

9. Think!

10.Simplify

I see this List as advice from my mind to the heart and back to the mind and it follows a quote I read recently from Richard Diebenkorn's own pre-painting list: "Don't be a Pollyanna!"

My artwork has become stronger and more joyful recently and making a list of my process showed me why and how I have changed for the better.

As an abstract expressionist painter my list is usually quite brief, but all the same very important. Glaucous III
encaustic painting In our ART INCUBATOR workshops we refer to it as "concept." How can you expect to convey something of value if you have no concept? So whether doing a landscape, still life, nude, or abstract, a point of view is essential. When I am plumbing the depths of my subconscious I always start with a few things in mind, though I don't have to write them down at this point. I think writing ideas is powerful when beginning the process.

I might be thinking about working in a minimalist, reductive way. Perhaps focusing on soft colors rather than vibrant colors on a particular piece. Thinking about line vs mass, and so on. Taking this a step further, I might be thinking about some personal issues or some issues in the universe. Ultimately, this approach can lead to something that speaks to people rather than simply a nice little painting.

I really like this letter because it focuses on something I think is a very important issue with Kool breeze
acrylic painting artists. And that is focusing on the left brain, analytical side of things. I have always been a list maker, planner and thinker about what I want to do with my art and my life in general. I even make a list every night about what I want to accomplish the next day. Art, art business, laundry, groceries, etc. Whatever does not get done, goes on the next day's list.

When I'm planning a new series, I have a large drawer in my studio where I store materials and ideas for future work. Most of the ideas come to me when I least expect them. That is my intuitive side. Many times while I'm reading, taking a shower, doing the dishes or watering the yard, an interesting idea will come to me. I quickly write these "insights" on sticky notes and throw them in the drawer. By the time I am finally ready to start the new series, I have reams of material to work with. I am usually surprised and happy by the notes I have left myself that I had totally forgotten about!

I also make lists of changes for work I am still doing. I work in acrylic both transparently, and opaquely and on WC paper and canvas, so I have a lot of options. More contrast at the center of interest? Softer edges going off the space? A warmer dominance? Fewer shapes? More quiet areas? Way more DARKS! Whatever.

In the olden days, they'd snigger if you did refreshers, as if that meant you never really made the Untitled
original painting date "yerrown." But today we know the mind likes its fine points refreshed and it shows in the art when we do it. Thank so much for the note on the topic... I am perfecting my use of speech to text so that I can save typing, typing typing time. But even the typing is valuable--it gives the fingers a good workout and typing exercises and speed typing workouts help too. I am even doing a speed-knitting thing - did you know they have contests in it? Wild , no? I had the classic "lady" arts training - some of it all and love it all, and admire experts in other foci and try to stay comprehensive but not off-focus.

Edgar Whitney's quote is something like: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." I mostly agree Untitled
original painting with his thoughts on this. However, I have seen, in rarity, a nonchalant GREAT painting made from running paint. I've seen such destroyed later by 'plans.' So, be happy with GREAT however it comes. But do plan 86% of your paintings. Otherwise, if we don't, we might become victims of the inability to gain a recognizable style. Style, in my humble opinion, is formed for each artist through years of practice. And it's what puts artists in the history books.

My humble advice to artists everywhere is to make no list. My humble advice is to simply look at the world. Untitled
original photograph Do people really need to make the same paintings over and over again? I don't get that. What is the point? Look at the world. I had the great privilege to be in British Columbia in late October. What I saw belies your list. Quite used to it, you may not experience it in the same way I do. Those obese British people at the beach leave me cold. Colder than late October in a summer cabin in B.C. The B.C environment is truly beautiful. Far more beautiful than a bunch of sweaty British people at the beach. Make a list? Hell, no. Just go out and look at the world. Make an image that is surprising. PWB.

Making a list is good for beginners. I used to keep a sketchbook with lists of ideas, of dreams Bantams
oil painting that needed to become real, and notes on the hours spent on work, on what worked and what didn't on work under hand. But in the end keeping notes became a drag, so I abandoned that idea. I wonder, perhaps it is better to make notes afterwards? To evaluate what you have done. I guess I prefer going to the chopping block with a sharp axe and an open mind, and hope I won't lose my head in the process. You state that such an attitude can lead to missed opportunities, but the same could be said of making lists beforehand. Because I am a "generalist" sort of painter, with interests in the landscape, the people, wild and domestic animals and plants that inhabit it, and traces of man's presence, like a footpath, shacks, rusted machinery and even old power line pylons, I feel I don't need a list to be open to all possibilities. Hiking up the mountain, as I did recently in the French High Alps, offers all kind of opportunities, from foreground details to vast panoramic views. The gear I cart along, however, limits the possibilities to a certain extent. Leaving my spotting scope in the valley frustrates the opportunity of painting wildlife. Having only a small sketching box limits capturing vast panoramas, but everything in between is still possible, and a joy to do!

All the best to Sara. Sounds like she's doing okay amidst the calamity in New York. Brioso
original painting

(RG note) Thanks Esmie, and all who wrote in concern for daughter Sara in her fourth floor walkup on 20th Street in Chelsea, NY. We have forwarded all your emails to her. As I write this she still does not have power but it's amazing what she can get done sitting by the window in the daylight hours.