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Richard Nelson

More Stuff I Wish Someone Had Told Me

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Three years ago I wrote a blog about things I’ve learned over the last thirty years as an artist. These are things we may have heard in school or elsewhere, but, like Dorothy Gale, perhaps we may have just had to ‘learn it for ourselves’’.
Since then a few more thoughts have bubbled up.
1. It’s Hard
Nothing new here. I start every workshop by saying ‘painting is hard’. I love the Tom Hanks ‘it’s hard’ scene from A League Of Their Own when he states, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it”.
2. It’s All Work 
I used to stress about time away from the easel. Travel, shipping, framing, corresponding, photographing work and getting it out there, going to galleries and museums, visiting artist friend’s studios.… these things used to make me feel like time was being wasted. Then I had the glorious revelation that it’s all work.
This mishmash is what makes us artists, so just do these things well and enjoy each one. Hopefully with this acceptance comes a winnowing process to realize what it takes to be the most effective artist we can be. I have read that Norman Rockwell painted virtually every day, even Christmas. How he amassed such a deep level of human interest and understanding is beyond me. Genius is the likely explanation. We mortals have to actually take the time to interact, be places, see things, and get to the easel as much as we can.
3. Craft vs. Emotion
As we learn, it is natural to be proud of our skills, and push to develop them more. Think of a pianist who can fly through scales. The thing is, that is not very interesting to anyone!
To stay with the music analogy, a heartfelt Moonlight Sonata or Rhapsody In Blue or Let It Be can bring us to tears. Not because of craft. Because of emotion.
For people to deeply relate to our work they need an emotional connection along with skill. Of course each of us has to find that balance. No one is interested in a Moonlight Sonata with stops and starts and off notes and such (unless it is a near relative playing). Here the analogy slips. Note the strong interest in Folk Art, where the artists have little or no training. In painting, sometimes emotion connects more than craft.
Craft is important. And with visual art I do think people are impressed with great skill. But the greatest work finds a way for viewers to connect on an emotional level. That could be joy, serenity, shared interest, sorrow, passion… whatever. This is ‘unity’ and it can be sensed in any art form in a nanosecond. To see this in action, watch Susan Boyle singing the song from Les Miserables on Britain’s Got Talent.
4. A Weekly Painting Group Rocks!
Ok, this is not new information either. I have been in groups like this on and off since the ‘80s. But if you had told me when we started nearly four years ago that our Wednesday Night Head Study Sessions would have so many benefits I would have been skeptical.
We paint a different sitter for three hours each week, and our skills have improved, our travel kits (a must!) are complete, we’ve grown so close, met so many interesting people of all ages and backgrounds, discussed so many things… I could go on. This, in a town of 1700 people, in a county of 20,000. You may have more than that in your neighborhood! So please, just do it! Paint from life with friends once a week, whether it’s portrait, still life, or landscape.
You can read more on our group and some practical tips on getting started here.


5. Travel Kit

So often as a teaching artist one sees folks who either don’t have a travel kit or can’t set the dang thing up. If you have not done so, do yourself a favor and get a ‘rig’; everything you need to paint in the field, classroom, give a demo, whatever.
Mine is a traditional French easel (Creative Mark Safari 2, around $100) slightly modified so I can stand or occasionally sit, a palette, odorless mineral spirits, viva paper towels, an artist’s umbrella, and large tubes of the paint. This is always in my car, with a great LED light and stand, which works with rechargeable batteries or plugs in.
Happy painting, and may we all keep learning and growing each day we’re lucky enough to be artists!
PS- You can read the first installment of Stuff I Wish Someone Had Told Me here.

Miscellaneous Thoughts in 2018

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This is an exciting time!

It seems like more people are spending money again. There are more artists than ever doing really fine work. There are more people studying painting than ever before. There are more competitions, associations, seminars, etc than ever. Clearly the internet and social media have made it possible to see more art and informational posts than ever before. And there’s a huge range of educational options, from workshops to longer-term programs or classes to universities, ateliers, art schools etc. Of course nothing beats seeing art in person so there will always be galleries, museums, studio visits and private collections. In terms of sales, good salespeople and other ‘connectors’ will always be worth their weight in gold as they somehow help unite artists with patrons.
So as artists we have unprecedented opportunities but can sometimes feel lost in a sea of choices with thousands of other talented artists. While we each have our strengths, we are impressed and sometimes a bit intimidated when we see other people doing amazing things. It seems that the best way forward is to take a look at what excites us the most and determine how to keep on that path, always working on building our skills as artists and communicators with the rest of the world.
To borrow from the popular TV commercial, thank you Captain Obvious. Like everything with art (and life) it’s just way more complex than simple observations can sum up. Some of us need to provide for our families and so are tempted to continue doing what has put food on the table, and are hesitant to break out in a new direction. Some of us feel great about our work but struggle to reach a broader audience. Some of us have to carve out time to work because we have non-art jobs or responsibilities. Some of us feel that no matter how hard we work we can never get close to the work being done by giants of the past and present. We may feel all of these things and many others too.
When anxiety and confusion well up in me I sometimes go ‘small’ and ‘large’. Small, as in it is a miracle that molecules came together to construct this amazing world, and us, with our minds, eyes, hands, hearts etc.

Image courtesy of IBM Research – Zurich A team of IBM scientists—known for capturing the first close-up image of a single molecule in 2009—now have revealed incredibly detailed microscopic images that show the individual chemical bonds between atoms.


Large, as in we are just people living relatively short lives on a planet in a vast universe.

From these perspectives, for me the takeaway is that it is a great blessing to be able to pursue excellence in art and all of the different aspects of being an artist. I try to discern where my truest abilities and interests lie and figure out how to best approach these things intelligently with the time I have, being sure to do what it takes to maintain a balance of all of the things that make life possible and sustainable.
So for me this means a weekly life painting session (it’s not hard to start your own; see my blog ‘Let’s Work Together’, keeping up on promotion with an updated website, Facebook posts, and a monthly newsletter. I am a member of OPA and PSOA and try to enter competitions and attend events and support these terrific groups. I try to teach, mentor, take a few painting trips a year, take a workshop each year, and super important, make my clients, past, present, and future, very pleased that they selected me. Then it’s time to balance the whole life thing (spirituality, family, friends, community, nutrition, exercise, etc…) which is pretty much impossible, so we all just do our best and try to be grateful that we get to be creative. Imagine for a moment if you didn’t have art! We truly are lucky to be alive and engaged in this challenging pursuit.

'Let’s Work Together'

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One of my favorite things is having an artist’s group which meets regularly. While most of us spend a lot of time alone creating art, nearly everyone is a social creature too. We naturally benefit from being around others. It’s also a great way to help newcomers, and even old timers will pick up new things, if it’s just how to use Pandora!
I am a member of the Oil Painters of America, the Portrait Society of America, and other professional groups, and these are terrific organizations. It’s so fantastic participating in their events and competitions. I am also in the Plein Air Painters of the South East (PAPSE), and these wonderful artists meet for painting events a few times a year. These are all such learning opportunities!

‘Remy’ 16x12 Oil
‘Remy’ 16×12 Oil

But my point here is that belonging to or starting a group that meets weekly or thereabouts can be of tremendous value. In college, and just after, I drew and painted at Detroit’s Scarab Club a few nights a week, and on some Saturdays. I cannot express all I learned about a wide range of subjects while developing my skills. I also continued to take classes after graduation, and then teach, which can be other ways to do what I’m suggesting, although usually for a more finite period. One of the most basic lessons is that MUCH OF LIFE IS JUST SHOWING UP! This cannot be overstated.

How we got “a head”

In January 2015 we started the Wednesday Night Head Study session at our local arts organization; Tryon Painters And Sculptors. We live in a small town, but it as been easy and fun asking folks to sit for three hours while we paint or draw them. We are thinking of starting a landscape group. If we had a larger population to draw on we would love to start a figure session. If something you would like doesn’t exist near you, start it up! Then you have the added benefit of deciding on what the focus is, when it happens, how long, how much etc. Hopefully you will soon have partners who can run the show when you can’t be there.
Do I always feel like procuring a model and going to paint on Wednesday night from 7-10? Not so much. But like other forms of exercise, I’m always glad I went, even if my painting or drawing turned out poorly. Besides the obvious improvement to our skills and increased confidence from the extra hours working from life, there are other benefits such as the comradarie of the regular members of the group, getting to know those who sit for you better, and it’s not surprising to sell or give some of the work you generate, or get commissions for other work as a direct or indirect result of these endeavors. In fact as I write this I’ve just learned that my head study of Remy has been accepted into the OPA 2016 Salon!
We always have to stress to our sitters that they don’t have to stay frozen for three hours! We explain that they find a comfortable pose, and that it’s important they are able to get back into it after taking whatever breaks they find reasonable. We reassure the models that they’re doing a great job and usually everyone has a fine time. We each contribute $10 and split it between the sitter and the facility.

If it’s not possible for you to have a group like this, you can commit to working from life regularly in many ways. Doing self-portraits in the mirror is a terrific exercise. Surely there are people in your life who would sit for you and perhaps even pose figuratively. Painting still life, landscape and interiors are also great ways to work from life.


Each week I renew my commitment to try to hone my process to generate work that rises to a new level. There are so many factors involved in painting; inspiration, composition, drawing, value, color, paint application and edges, calling it done…not to mention getting your ‘rig’ together, discipline, human relations, negotiating with ‘clients’, dealing with ups and downs, following through on commitments…
So we take it step by step. If we can adhere to solid principles of working from life and continue to grow our understanding of the figure and the process of picture making, we can see great results in time. If you’re ever in Tryon, NC on a Wednesday night do come and join us. Thanks to the Tryon Painters And Sculptors for providing such a great space!

PS- if you would like a solid, somewhat simplified approach to human anatomy for the artist, check out Andrew Loomis’ ‘Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth’. Luckily it’s been beautifully reissued and is not expensive.

The Value Of Value

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Mango 14×11 Oil
Mango 14×11 Oil

When teaching, the first thing I like to point out is that PAINTING IS HARD! So after 20 years or so it was interesting to try to break painting down into its essential parts in order to be a better instructor. Of course, there is nothing new here other than the way my brain has distilled my ongoing education. See if anything below resonates with you.
After much thinking and analyzing I realized that my seven steps are inspiration, composition, drawing, value, color, paint application (includes edges), and calling it done. It also seems that there is usually an element of contrast or balance to most steps; something dominant and supportive in the composition (not 50/50), some stuff drawn out or rendered out and some less so, some dark and some light, strong color and muted color, sharp edges and soft edges, thick paint in the light and thin darks… and usually not half and half or 100% or 0% in any of these aspects.
Truly one can spend the rest of one’s life in any of these steps or areas, and yet as artists we generally wield them simultaneously! This is why PAINTING IS HARD. I make the analogy to juggling or spinning plates. And just to make it more complicated, sometimes if we get too involved in process we somehow defeat the spark which inspired us to make art. To use a musical analogy, we don’t enjoy listening to musicians practicing scales. We want to hear creative melodies and stories. In painting this is ‘picture making’.
In terms of subjects, still life is a great way to hone the process. You don’t have to contend with changing weather and light as you do when painting landscape, and you don’t need the artistic anatomy understanding of the figurative or portrait artist. You can have your setup available for as long as you need, and you can even begin to introduce narrative or other kinds of inspiration; color, drawing; whatever is motivating you. Once you have a handle on your process and materials you can venture into other subjects with some confidence.
It became apparent after teaching a few workshops that folks were missing value, which is simply the range from light to dark with which we render form through light and shadow. It is a foundation for representational painting, and yet it seems that often we are seduced by color, and miss value. This can really create problems and frustration! So, I began starting still life classes with an exercise where everyone paints a simple object monochromatically, and then in color; the same size on the same canvas, side by side.

It’s quite a revelation. I will wager that nearly any painting that you love will look good in black and white. The values are like a great skeleton on which the painting hangs. And sadly the inverse is also true; when a painting isn’t rocking your world you’ll often find that it doesn’t hold up well in grayscale either.

So, try leaning into value a bit and you might make some quick progress! Just spend a little extra time trying to capture the accurate range of light and shadow before getting lost in color.
And don’t forget the secret eighth step: REPEAT OFTEN!

Stuff I Wish Someone Had Told Me

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Merrion Dale 18x14 Oil
Merrion Dale 18×14 Oil

You probably already know the following things, which I have slowly picked up over the years, but just in case you missed some, here they are.
When painting, your results will reflect the opposite of the lighting conditions in which you are working. If you are in a bright space or outdoors without shade or an umbrella, your painting will be dark. If you paint indoors under cool artificial light, your painting will look warm in more normal situations. And so on. I believe that generally Old Masters had dimmer studios, perhaps with a small north light window. Then they got light and warmth ‘into’ their paintings. Our eyes are so amazing that they just adapt to all conditions when we work, and we may not consider where we are painting. Heck, painting is hard enough all by itself.
By the way, speaking of Old Masters, how come so few of us contemporary artists (meaning alive – a pet peeve) do representational work that is as good as the work done before there were cameras or even electricity? You got it – they worked from life.*
Because…
It’s not about a particular piece of art – it’s about the process. As I work, it’s not unusual go from thinking that a particular piece is a masterpiece, to thinking it is a disaster. And this seesaw can continue even after it’s done! Have you had the feeling of seeing an older piece and thinking “it’s not half bad”? Or even “I used to be better than I am now”! That hurts! Well after painting a lot for twenty plus years I believe that it’s about the process. Just do the work and let the evaluation take place whenever. Surely we all want to do great work so just lighten up. Just make sure the process is solid.
On a more practical level:
Egberts. Try ’em. They are all I use. They vary widely from soft (Rosemary) to stiff (Silver) to in-between (Robert Simmons and Richeson and many others). Egberts seem to be the number one thing folks take away from my workshops.
And by the way:
Stop cleaning your brushes! My friend Bart Lindstrom was painting in my studio, and at the end of the day I asked if he was going to clean his brushes. He said he just wipes them off after swishing in mineral spirits. What??? All the hours, the soap, the water…
Speaking of brushes, try using a larger brush than you are quite comfortable with.
Speaking of turp, I seem to be using far fewer brushes and a lot less turp and paper towels. The idea is to go from mixture to mixture. Sure, now and then you need to really get a clean brush, and mix a pristine mixture, but more often than not, you will get ‘unity’ by being less neurotic about paint, palette, turp, etc.
Speaking of unity, that’s actually the entire deal with all creative expression. We get so obsessed with craft and all that goes with it (which is good) that we forget what inspired us to be artists in the first place (not so good).
But wait, there’s more:
Freeze your paint. I put my palette in a box in the chest freezer. My wife is not enthralled, but I hardly throw out any paint at all.
Wipe paint off of yourself with oil, not mineral spirits.
Stand on a pad. Save your back! Standing is good because your point of view changes more. Keep your painting vertical and at eye level.
Take breaks! It is unfortunate that as we progress deeper into our work, we can get fatigued and not make good decisions. I always say a painting is just a million decisions. Always OBSERVE, MIX, AND LAY IT DOWN. I define fatigue as thinking that whatever mixture happens to be on your brush is the right one for everything all of a sudden.
Paint a good bit in standard sizes. I used to stretch all kinds of weird sizes. Now I do 11×14, 16×20, 20×24, 24×30, 30×40… you get the idea. I still do non-standard sizes when necessary, and sometimes in the field I’ll do something like paint two 10x24s on a 20×24 to get long narrow compositions. Then I have to cut them down, mount them, and order custom frames. That’s OK, but it’s nice to have a large supply of frames to interchange and help get things out the door and on the wall.
Loose painters want to be tighter, and tight painters want to be looser.
Be grateful for every day you get to make art.
I think that’s it.

*Hey, I’m as guilty as anyone of using the camera for portraits, but I learned working from life, and always try to have at least a weekly session to continue to work from life. All of my still life and landscape is from life, and I aspire do all work from life before I pass on.
Visit Rich Nelson’s website to learn more about this author.
richardchristiannelson.com