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Learning the arts—or maybe learning anything—is like a spiraling circle that heads up or down the mountain of progress. We often hear “practice makes perfect,” but if I practice errors, I am making a perfect mess and spiraling down.

I’ve noticed, however, that if I continue to practice a skill set as I am simultaneously learning new principles or tools about that skill set, then my circle of repetition goes up the mountain instead of down.

Take color theory, for example. Periodically I determine to rethink what I’ve learned about color by concentrating again and again on color/value in landscape painting. I’ve read dozens of books on landscape painting and watched quite a few videos from plein air painters I admire. I’ve found a variety of suggested color palettes to achieve natural greens or perfect skies. I spent months doing paintings with a limited palette of the 3 primary colors plus white only to switch back again to a warm and cool of each of the 3 primaries plus white and siennas. I also tried some other palette suggestions from accomplished painters. 

But then I watched a new video clip from Kevin Macpherson—I admit he’s a favorite source of inspiration—and he was showing his use of 3 primaries + white. His choice of red was slightly warmer than what I’d been using for a 3-color palette. Okay—back to the circle of color theory again, and I liked it! The colors seemed to be much more in harmony.  One minor change, one big improvement. 

So what’s the take away here? Don’t think that once around the spiraling ladder of progress is enough. Even when I think I’ve got it, I probably haven’t arrived at anywhere near perfection. I’m just very thankful that the best artists I find to learn from seem to be going through this on-going pursuit, too. I’ve never found one master painter who ever felt like he or she had arrived. That makes this trip all the more exciting because there’s always more beauty ahead. For me, that’s the joy of this thing called art; it’s a perpetual feast of beauty found in everyday life, and the mountain view gets better on the way up.

My plein air quest was from  these 3  primary colors + white:

It's amazing how so much variety of color can come from 3 primary hues.   Less is more? More manageable, certainly.  

Maybe I should try simplifying my whole life!

The end of summer is always a little sad for me. I have a sun-and-water kind of addiction, and though fall is beautiful and crisp weather refreshing, I find myself resisting the end of August.

September is the time that I set up for new classes and prepping for the arrival of new students always makes me shift gear into teaching mode. Teaching mode, however, is learning mode. I start going back over my best old books to rethink what I’ve learned about this never-ending quest for beauty through the visual arts. What principles of art have served me best to herd the unruly inspirations and do-overs into the pasture of success? Planning successful lessons for my students requires me to understand and articulate what works and what doesn’t. I’m the one always learning and hoping it transfers to those who enroll in classes. If I’m sitting on idle, I’m no good to them or me.

I recently read a great Outdoor Painter article by John Hughes (Aug. 10, 2018). He said his “rubric of learning now looks like this:1– Concept, 2 – Light, 3 – Design, 4 – The Tools (drawing, color, value, edges, and brushwork), 5 – Painting Procedure.” He challenged me to think again about the order of priority in learning and teaching art. I had long ago come the conclusion that I needed to emphasize design (composition) before tools, and that one epiphany changed everything. Now Hughes is stretching me again. It feels really good to stretch.

I’m spending more time on concept, always considering the light, working and reworking design, and finding time to just sketch more to work

on those edges, and brushwork.