5 Essential Practices for an Oil Painter (Article)

In no particular order, here are the 5 most essential practices for an oil painter:

Memory Training

Largely overlooked in today’s pedagogy, memory training is fundamental to the development of both the impressionist painter and the imaginative painter, though for different purposes. Starting with the impressionist painter, his task is to truthfully render the magic of the scene in front of him. In order to do so, he must first observe the scene as a general impression. Instead of immediately getting caught up in the little details such as individual leaves or birds, he must allow the essence of the thing to strike him, and he must learn to conceptualize it. The visual memory is a necessary tool in accomplishing this step, as it tends to filter out inessential information due to its limited bandwidth. Even a 5 second glance at a landscape is sufficient to imprint on the painter’s mind an impression from which a concept can be derived. From this concept, the painter can understand what gives the subject its magic and which relationships must be painted to communicate that same magic to the viewer. Thus, Degas, in my interpretation, recommends that the figure artist observe the figure on the 1^st floor and paint it on the 5^th floor. His recommendation is dependent entirely upon a well-developed visual memory, with the goal of prioritizing what is most essential in the subject in a truthful way.

So, to conceptualize a subject, the impressionist painter must develop his memory. He must also apply his memory in the actual process of putting down marks on canvas. To give an example, if a painter is about to articulate the peak of a mountain in a landscape painting, he must first observe that shape in nature and store it in his mind’s eye. Then, he must retain it while his eyes shift from nature to the canvas and while he walks up to the canvas to paint. Perhaps no more than 2 seconds elapse in this process, but, regardless, the visual information must be stored in the painter’s memory during that time. This is an uncommon process; the mode of today’s painter is to keep his brush pressed on the canvas while his eyes dart back and forth between nature and canvas and while his hand incrementally articulates the shape. This method is a crutch which achieves some degree of truth but which lacks in the grander truths. Thus Sargent advises to “draw the longest line you can remember.”

While the imaginative painter should predicate the development of his craft on the observation of nature, his goals are different than those of the impressionist. He composes his pictures from studies and visual information stored in his head. The same objectives of memory training discussed above also apply to the imaginative painter when he is drawing or painting from life. However, there is another reason why it is crucial in his development. In order to make convincing figures, landscapes, objects, clothing, etc. from imagination, he must have a capacious store of visual information in his mind. This builds naturally the more the painter draws and paints, but training the memory ultimately accelerates its growth and improves the accuracy of the information. In other words, training the memory improves the ability of the imaginative painter to make a convincing picture from imagination.

For instruction and examples on memory training, please see my demo.

Looking At Pictures

Any chef worth her salt has developed her palette through the extensive exploration of different foods and flavor profiles. She has visited other countries or cultures to experience their cuisine and has returned with new perspectives on her own food. Similarly, a painter must experience the work of other painters to improve his craft. Frequent museum and gallery visits will not only inspire the painter but will give him insights into how master painters resolved the issues he currently faces in his own work. He can view a painting from 10 feet back and observe the grand unities and color relationships that make it pleasing to look at, for example; he can also step close to the canvas to see how the artist applied paint and articulated edges. Museums are the best place for viewing paintings, for they are surer to have quality paintings on view than any other location. However, in the event that a museum is out of reach, there are other locations to look for works of art, including local galleries, town halls, and libraries. These locations might have paintings with something to offer the painter; and, if they do, he should return frequently to study the paintings which inspire him. There is much to gain and much to learn by looking at a well-crafted painting.

Though not as ideal as viewing paintings in person, the painter can also look at pictures online. It is better than not looking at all, for, at the very least, he will develop his sense of composition. Museums such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC have excellent websites with high quality images to explore.

Painting from Life

Painting from life is the singular bread and butter of any representational painter, whether impressionist or imaginative. Whether the painter paints beautiful landscapes from life like Metcalf, decorates churches with Biblical narratives like Flandrin, or paints imaginative genre pictures like Velazquez, convincing the viewer of a certain level of realism is a primary task, and it requires an understanding of the visual elements which comprise nature. This understanding is, first of all, trained through years of careful observation and, second of all, applied in the actual execution of the painting.

In his early years, a painter should learn to draw from plaster casts using charcoal, as is the traditional mode of training. This practice inculcates essential lessons on shape, proportion, edge quality, surface quality, and value. He cannot make too many drawings of this kind. At a certain point, though, he should introduce color to learn chroma, hue, and color-value. He can paint still lifes or landscapes to accomplish this, and, if he is intentional about the setup of his subject, he will inevitably develop his sense of composition in the process. Ultimately, he should paint anything and everything that pleases him to look at, as much as he possibly can. He will form his eye and his technique through repetition, so long as he is intentional and not absent-minded.

Not only does painting from life develop the painter’s eye, but it develops his hand. Just as a golfer must cultivate his swing through practice so that it becomes second nature to him, so does a painter need to practice mixing and applying paint until he no longer thinks consciously about the mechanics of painting. The surest way to do so is to make a hundred or more paintings and drawings (including studies). The manual handicaps of his process must be jettisoned so that the painter can execute exactly what he means to when he goes up to the canvas. This occurs only through many hours of practice. Some of it sorts itself out naturally and need not be addressed consciously. Some of it, on the other hand, might need intentionality and particular attention to remedy. For example, learning how to make a color warmer or cooler, brighter or darker, might require intentional practice, whereas learning how to hold a brush tends to happen on its own over time through the act of painting. Either way, investments of time and repetition are required.

Reading

It is questionable whether certain technological advances actually advance our quality of life. While the advent of social media, for instance, offered the potential of global interconnectivity and information sharing, there is no denying that it has effected widespread dissociation and polarization. To give another example, modern industrial manufacturing processes have made important everyday items such as shovels, drills, and clothing accessible to many, but they have simultaneously enabled the large-scale production of military weaponry which has fueled global conflicts since the beginning of the 20^th century.

It is unquestionably the case, on the other hand, that so-called advancements in art have done nothing to actually advance it. It might have been the thrust of the modern art movement to liberate art from rigid boundaries into a new phase of expression, but unleashing the dog to give it freedom left it stranded in the woods with no way to get home. Now the dog wanders the wilderness eating deer scat thinking it for nutrition. It is thus likely that there is no living artist who is capable of reaching the expressive heights of our predecessors. Most of their techniques and methods have been entirely lost in the modern pedagogy, but much of it, thankfully, has been written down and still exists in literature. In the same way that a representational painter must look at the pictures of master painters to advance his own work, he must also read what those painters have said about the craft.  Reading Sargent’s comments about his method, for example, opens up new conversations in the painter’s mind and gives insights into resolving problems in his work. Every painter should be in the habit of reading regularly to expand his knowledge and incorporate the wisdom of his predecessors who already mastered his craft. He will become a better painter if he does so, and perhaps he will contribute to a new renaissance of the craft.

Here are 5 books which I recommend every painter read:

The Classic Point of View, Kenyon Cox, 1911

Treatise on Painting, Leonardo Da Vinci

Impressions on Painting, Alfred Stevens, 1886

The Twilight of Painting, RH Ives Gammell, 1946

Discourses on Art, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1891

Prayer

In his Impressions on Painting, Alfred Stevens said that “the early masters undoubtedly made the sign of the cross before painting.” I don’t know whether he was simply implying the Catholicity of the Italian Renaissance painters or if he was suggesting the nature of devotion implicit in the act of painting, but I tend to think the latter. Michelangelo is quoted as saying, “good painting, is noble and devout in itself, for with the wise nothing elevates more the soul and turns it toward devotion than the difficulty of perfection, which is a tendency to approach God to be united to Him; for good painting is as a copy of his perfections, a shadow of His brush, a music, a melody.” 

Inasmuch as painting is an act of devotion, prayer is both a necessary component and a natural byproduct of it. At a certain point, prayer and painting collectively hit a resonance frequency and amplify one another such that the painter grows in his craft as he grows in his relationship with the Lord. In practice, prayer should be a daily habit of the painter, as there is nothing that better disposes him to the analytical self-reflection and patience necessary to paint honestly. Through prayer one strives to conform his will to the will of God. Painting, specifically from life, similarly requires the setting aside of the painter’s own ideas to the grand truth before his eyes. In a beautiful symbiosis, the act of painting prepares the painter for a deeper life of prayer, due to that submission to the grand truth, and due to its requirement of self-reflection.

Prayer should be incorporated into the act of painting as well. As a painter starts a new day by squeezing paint from the tube onto his palette and selecting his brushes, he parallels the priest who robes himself in his vestments and sets up the altar with liturgical items. He is preparing for an act of devotion which requires of him a certain level of centeredness and humility. Prayer, even if brief, is an important step prior to laying down the first brushstroke of the day, for the painter needs to center his mind and humble it to the grand truth. It might be as simple as, Father, thank you for this opportunity to paint. Please help me to see your beauty and to capture it faithfully. Or, the traditional prayer used before meals can be said: Bless me, oh Lord, and these thy gifts which I am about to receive from thy bounty. Ultimately, it should invite gratitude and humility into the moment to position the painter in his proper place. He is serving something greater than himself in the act of painting, and that reality is reinforced through prayer, setting the painter up to paint with nobility and excellence.