This week I had the opportunity to study with Matt Smith, a painter that I have admired for many years. A long time ago I was told by a top painter that it's a good idea to study with another artist once a year to kick up your artistic game. Matt has been on my wish list ever since I saw his original work in Scottsdale at Trailside Galleries. One of the many gems that Matt told the group was to spend a month painting in the field, 6" X 8" panels. I photographed the little painting with the easel so you can see how tiny the panel is, yet the scene is huge. Here are the main nuggets that Matt passed along:
- Use the best equipment and materials you can
- Always work large to small shapes, dark to light and thin paint to thick paint
- If there is a warm light source, the shadows will be cool
- Earth colors are only used as modifiers
- Save the painting of the sky for the end, otherwise it may be too rich/dark
- Value does all the work and color gets all the credit
- Rules can be broken / laws cannot
- Balance the painting front to back, not just left to right
- Always, always establish your horizon line, even if does not show in the painting
- Study the masters / look at and learn from great art
- It's easier to rich a gray color then gray a rich color
Here is a list of the artists that we showed take a look at on Google images he mentioned:
Frederick H. Waugh
Michael Karas
James Reynolds
Odgen Pleissner
Alan Bean
Frank Tenney Johnson
Remington
Sir Alfred Munnings
Carl Rungis
Stanislaw Zoladz
Eugene Bracht
Scott Burdick
William Herbert Dunton Frederick H. Waugh
Michael Karas
James Reynolds
