WebEx Three Keys to Success 20220113 Transcript

- When I'm headed out to paint, I am looking for contrast. I'm always trying to build my paintings in terms of contrast.  

When I observed the landscape, I actually put on these red lens glasses. And so, when I'm looking at a backlit barn with a shadow coming towards me, I see it only in terms of shape and contrast. 

In order to paint the light, it's really important to think about it in terms of a black and white photograph. And then, I create an actual black and white sketch to give me those shapes of dark and light, and to create those contrasts. 

Looks to be about a 10% value. I mix my colors according to a value palette, which I came up with myself just to make it easier to teach other people what I'm doing. 

As I hold my knife up to the actual subject matter, I can see that it just needs to cool slightly. 

Once I have the painting laid in, I look at the painting and the subject matter backwards in a mirror, and that just shows me if I've screwed anything up. Our eyes are just get so used to looking at an image that it gets burnt into our memory somehow and when you look at something backwards in a mirror, it just gives you that fresh take on it so I can see, "Oh, my gosh, I'm totally wrong in this area, and then, I have to redo it. 

So, those three things are kind of key to doing what I do.