Direct Painting

"Apache Trail"
18 x 24, Oil
Richard Schmid

Another vocabulary lesson: What is "direct painting"? Direct painting is my preferred approach to painting, and yet it is hardly an everyday word. Direct painting means painting from life, usually in a single session. It is sometimes called painting "alla prima" (Italian for "at first time") or "au premier coup" (French for "all at once"). Don't you love those fancy foreign words?  In Direct painting, you stand directly in the presence of your subject, and attempt to capture your experience of it, all in one fell swoop.

"Greenwich  Village"
Richard Schmid

I have been reading Richard Schmid's book Alla Pima: Everything I Know About Painting. It's an invaluable resource. Schmid says that direct painting is "the ultimate in representational art because

it is about real experience and demands the highest level of skill." He writes that  direct painting is a way of SEEING rather than a technique. Faithful readers have read many posts about seeing, and how learning to see is a lifelong endeavor.

"Portmagee Farm"
8 x 16, Oil
Richard Schmid

Schmid writes about the the birth of Direct painting. He believes that it came from the change from seeing "things" to seeing "the LIGHT on things". Direct painters must learn to see the world as shapes of color. As Schmid says, Direct painting is a very simple idea--"reduce your subject to essential visual shapes and paint them accurately". Sounds easy, doesn't it?? Not so easy to do, but as Schmid notes, it has given rise to some of the most joyful painting in all of history. 

"White Pines"
Richard Schmid

Carry on, Direct painters of the world!