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Live Demo 8 Nov 2020—Mastering “Negative Thinking”

Negative painting requires us to override the way our visual system is designed to work. Our eyes and the visual part of our brains are designed to identify “things” so we can navigate the world and work with tools and objects around us. Negative painting requires us to find shapes that are “not things”. Our brains resist! (Good thing, too, because when we leave the studio, we still want to be able to eat dinner!)

In this video, I’ll demonstrate a few strategies you can use to help yourself make the shift to using negative painting in your paintings.

Photos used in this demo, and some others that might be good for practicing negative painting:

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If you’ve painted in watercolor for more than a day or so, I know you’ve been here: after hours of hard work, you’re struggling with a blotchy, overworked section that you know isn’t going to be right, no matter how much more effort you put into it. It’s tempting to conclude that you just don’t have what it takes . . . maybe it’s time to take up something easier to master, say, golf.

How do you deal with “problem paintings” like this? (click the picture to read more)

Reserving and Recovering Light Values: Strategies to Consider

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