Get Away From Your Art to Make It Stronger

Seeing a painting from across the room shows you what it needs, but changing it from over there is hard. Tools that let you draw and paint from a distance, like rollers, a longer-handled brush, or a canvas laid on the floor, let you work and step back at the same time. It keeps you from over-fussing and makes stronger work easier.

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Get Away from Your Art to Make It Stronger

Does this ever happen to you? You walk into a gallery, or catch your own painting from across the room, and you know instantly what needs to change.

 

Why Distance Shows You the Truth

I talk a lot about working up really close, and I talk a lot about working from far away. You need both views to finish something. The distant view is how you see a painting objectively.

When I have a show and walk into the gallery, I see my paintings from a distance and I know instantly that one could have been better, or that I could have changed a thing. That’s the distance view doing its job.

The hard part is that from across the room, you can’t actually change anything. You have to walk over to the painting, figure out what it needs, and walk all the way back to check it. There’s a bit of a translation every time.

 

Tools That Give Me Distance

Lately I’ve been using tools that get me distance. I draw and paint with instruments that let me work from far away, and I’ve started working on much smaller canvases. I can work on a piece standing up, looking down, and walk all the way around it.

I’m changing this art from literally eight feet away, and I can see it better. It’s really fun, and it stops me from obsessing.

I’ve got little rollers now, six of them, and they’re all interchangeable. One had paint that dried on it, and it picked up the texture of the floor. When I put the canvas over the floor, it picks up the bumps underneath, so there’s a whole world to explore here.

The takeaway isn’t that you need to work on the floor, although I’d suggest it because it’s so fun. I’m already six feet away from it, and with a roller I can keep that distance. I can put the painting back on the wall, hang it, and work on it there. I can flip it up and walk across it. Anything that keeps you at a distance will do.

We’re almost our own worst enemy, the part of us that needs to fuss over everything and get it right. Working from a distance is what fixes that.

So the simple message is this. Can you work from a distance a little bit, and make changes from a distance? It’s simple, but it’s really juiced my whole practice. Working on multiples does the same thing, because you keep your objectivity. I can’t wait to clear the decks, put four paintings on the floor, and walk all around them.

Even getting a brush with a slight handle on it will help.

Leave a comment and let me know how you step back from your own work.

 

Also This Week…

 

Becoming Your Own Favorite Artist

Jen Richardson, New Zealand artist and BloomStudio Host of Art Life Connection, every Sunday at 3pm PT, shared this with me…

“A couple weeks ago I heard an artist say, ‘my intent is to become my own favourite artist’ and I haven’t stopped thinking about it daily.”

What Jen shared is so true, and it’s also about becoming your best favorite person.

Remember, being the best version of yourself to yourself, for yourself, all loops back in and helps make the best art.

 

A Project That Gives Paintings Away

Amy Bond, Philadelphia artist and BloomStudio Host of Gather and Grow, every Tuesday at 2pm PT, found a project called The Gift by artist Tracy Grubbs, from 2020. It offers small paintings for free to whoever finds them. These small works reference art history and are in dialogue with their sites.

I love this. Imagine turning a corner and finding a small painting that was left there just for you.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.