Step Back!

My Set-Up, Bailey Island, 2015

I recently read a post by the acclaimed painter Carolyn Anderson. She named four simple ways to improve your paintings. One of them was this: don't forget to step back from the easel often enough and far enough. I confess that I am often guilty of failing to step back from my painting. Stepping back is such a simple thing, but it is so easy to forget when you are in the throes of painting. That's why we all need to make it a habit--something reflexive that we won't forget.

Why step back? It allows you to see the entire painting at a glance. You can see
each portion of the canvas as part of the whole--not in isolation. Many times I have been rewarded by stepping back and having a "Eureka!" moment of seeing what was wrong with a painting, and how it could be improved. I can see values and color relationships much more clearly when my nose is not pressed right up against the canvas! (As with all tenets of painting, there is a life lesson here).

The first step (pun intended, ha!) to implement this practice is to set up the easel so that you have plenty of room to move away. In the top photo, you can see my footsteps in the sand, going back and forth, to and from the easel. But when I first started the painting, the tide was high, and I didn't have much room to maneuver. Thankfully the tide was going out, and so I was able to move farther back as the session went on.

In the next photo, taken some years ago, I stood wedged up against a wall. No way to move back into a good zone for viewing the canvas! Lesson learned. Nowadays I am always scouting for a spot that allows good maneuverability. Live and learn...