I'm Positive About Negative Painting

Watercolor and gouache on YUPO paper 9x12

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln

Next week I’m excited and honored to be doing a YUPO painting demo for an art club in the area. In preparation, I painted this little abstracted garden this morning using transparent watercolors, opaque gouache and a 9x12 YUPO pad.

Here’s what I started with—basically a wet in wet abstract watercolor which I let dry overnight. So you’ve got an interesting base painting like this, then what? Could you leave this as a more abstract painting? Of course. But I like options...

Shape "hunting" with watercolor pencil on the original painting.

As an artist who paints in both oil and watermedia I can’t imagine not having negative painting as a key option and skills. So I wanted to share 5 negative painting tips that I hope will help you the next time you face a painting challenge.

1. Consider the power of your mind’s eye. We need to be skilled shape makers and finders as painters. Negative painting fine tunes these abilities. In other words, what do you see in those big blobs of paint? A figure? A tree? An octopus? Keep looking…..And enjoy the process.
2. Want to push your more non-objective abstract painting over to a more representational painting? Negative painting helps you modify what you already have like I did today. It’s also a great way to “fix” or “salvage” a so-so painting you might have in the studio.(Don't we all have a few of those??)
3. If and when you negative paint over an existing background don’t be shy. Consider a bold value contrast that will really “pop” your image. For example, try black (or near black) over a very light painting or light negative painting around darker shapes.  Along the same lines if your base painting is very high chroma try a more neutral negative painting again for contrast.
4. If you enjoy painting nature and organic subjects like I do I think negative painting often looks less forced and more natural than positive painting.  That doesn’t mean you can’t paint any branches positively but consider using more interesting negative shapes as well—such as sky holes.
5. Take your time. Don’t rush negative painting if you’re not used to it. If you need to use a non-permanent light drawing tool (i.e. pastel pencil, watercolor pencil, soluble graphite, etc.) to help you find the shapes before you commit to paint.

P.S. If you want to improve your watercolor negative painting skills check out Linda Kemp's Painting Outside the Lines. She also has some videos on Artist TV Network.

Challenge Day 15: The Half Time Report

"YUPO Feathers" 9x12 watercolors on YUPO (collection artist)

Happy Sunday everyone--How’s your challenge painting going? Whew, today’s the half-way point. 15 days down, 15 to go…

Briefly, today’s painting is a study of feathers in YUPO. It’s a photo I took in the park this summer and have been thinking about for a while. Maybe for a larger abstract. So I thought it would be interesting to do a color study in the YUPO. (FYI, came across some helpful YUPO tips from the Beautiful Hello blog for those of you who want to "Do on it on YUPO.")

I’m not a runner but I imagine if you’re a long distance runner at the half way mark in a marathon it’s a mix of emotions. Elation that you’ve made it this far yet at the same time disheartened to that you’ve still got a long ways to go…

I was thinking today too even though it’s the weekend why is it sometimes so difficult to focus on something we actually enjoy? Is it guilt? Is it changing priorities? Is it fear of success? I love painting so it's not the desire that lacking. I think most artists I know would love to paint for hours upon hours with no life interventions...Music on, colors flying, lost in creative bliss...

But like any other creative passion, it’s finding that balance that I think is the tricky part. For example, if I start painting like crazy, I tend to need a long break at some point. Nothing wrong with that approach per se.

But I often wonder if I’d be more productive over the long run if I just maintained my creative energy inside of “sprinting” too hard and too soon.  So if an artistic life is like a marathon that you plan to run your whole life what’s the best strategy for success? Can’t say I have an answer for that right now. But I do think I’ll have a better idea at the end of the month…And thanks again everyone for cheering me on along the way. Because cheerleaders do make a difference!