It's a funny thing. About two weeks ago, I was thinking about adding some intermediate steps to my painting process and I went to the library and took out a couple of books on the work of Andrew Wyeth. I wanted to look at the work of an artist who made a lot of preliminary studies before committing to the actual painting and Wyeth seemed like a good place to start. Not all of Wyeth's works are equally great but the ones that are, are "Old Master" great. No question about it.
     When I say "slowing down" I don't mean physically. I'm pretty active. I run marathons and do a lot of outdoorsy things like flyfishing and camping. I mean slowing down in the sense of doing more drawing studies and painting studies (lately called posters), instead of jumping right into a painting after I have the initial idea.
      It's not that I'm in any way unhappy with the work that I've done so far, it's just that I would like to expand the process as a way of getting more in touch with what it is exactly that my work is about. It's not just about being able to technically represent what I'm seeing in a competent manner, there's something more and I think that doing more preliminary studies could help me to get a handle on it. I don't want to overanalyze my work or try to put a name or quantify every brushstroke I just want to spend a little more time analyzing my weaknesses and maximizing my strengths. Sometimes an artist can get the feeling of hurtling from one canvas to the next (which can be exhilarating) but at some point it might be a good idea to slow down and take stock of your accomplishments.
      Looking through the books I took out on Wyeth I can see how he would circle around an idea through numerous drawings and color studies before nailing it to a post. His final image could be said to be a meeting ground between actuality and imagination. It's hard to say whether he had the idea first and then went in search of his quarry or if through the process of sketching things he would get a whiff and then follow the scent. Maybe it's a combination of the two. Now that cast drawing has me in touch with my "inner pencil" I want to spend more time drawing out my ideas and analyzing details. I've never been the type of artist to walk around with a sketchpad constantly drawing. I've always admired that type of artist and aspired to be one, but I'm painfully shy when it comes to working in public. One of the hurdles I guess that I'll have to get over. Looking at Wyeth's sketches one realizes that it's all grist for the mill and that that aha moment can come at any time. When I show my student's art reproductions in my art history class I always make them sketch each work before we talk about it because as I explained to them, as artists we don't really see something until we draw it. When I look at Andrew Wyeth's drawings I see what he saw and it moves me deeply. Enough said.