“Stretch” Concept Applied to Painting

Artists create because they are looking to widen their horizons or their passion makes them do so. Some might learn, study, develop their art. They might decode it, try to explain, create consciously. And then graduate to the intuitive phase. It’s very similar to learning a sport; where you first break down the mechanics of a move and with time to learn to do it intuitively. With time we will just make art and won’t think about all the theoretical wisdom we have acquired.

Have you heard about the concept of “stretch?” This is the notion that emerging artists who are trying to grow will exhibit certain types of errors, one of which is the lack of use of full spectrum of values. Not all errors are equally damning and that the number of errors is less important than the types of errors we make.

Students of art who will try to learn by watching a watercolour tutorial or video will likely struggle to use some of the techniques they’ve just learned. It’s probably best to make stretch errors because it pushes your limit rather than using the same old tactics. While the results were not great for the students who exhibited stretch, at least they are trying to apply more sophisticated techniques and will probably improve over the long haul.

On the surface, some mistakes might seem very serious, however, below the surface they present you with the perfect opportunity to learn, to grow and to improve yourself. 

Think back to all the mistakes you made in your earlier paintings and consider how they have strengthened your skills and ability to solve problems. Consider the plethora of skills that your mistakes have taught you, and also how they have shaped your knowledge and development.

Mistakes are valuable. However, for them to be of value, you must first see them as a beneficial and critical part of your life that you cannot avoid and must instead embrace with an open heart and open mind. Who knows, your biggest mistakes could end up turning into your most glorious victories, as long as you are open to learning and growing from the experience.  At least that's what Neal always says.

It’s important that we stop viewing mistakes as something that’s negative and worthless. Instead, begin viewing mistakes as opportunities to re-evaluate the progression as an artist. Mistakes present opportunities to analyze the decisions and techniques you made or used during a painting. As Neal would say, it’s all good. They are evidence that we continue to challenge ourselves and part of the learning process.

We don’t have to make all of the mistakes, sometimes we can learn from the mistakes of others. Here is a little online quiz (only 10 questions) to see if you can identify the weaknesses in these paintings. Try it and share how well you did.  You'll need to scroll down half of the page to start with the first question.
https://www.artbynolan.com/top-10-mistakes-artists-make/

Once you are done this quiz, you will have the option to sign up to a newsletter which you will receive every few days and will focus on looking at the top mistakes that artists make so that you can avoid making the same mistakes in your paintings and drawings.

Today's art find is from a regional artist called Debra Tate-Sears. If you could believe it, this is a watercolour on slate. She first applied a clear coat of gesso to the stone before painting with watercolour. What a stunning effect.

Don't' forget to tell us how you did with the quiz. You may use the comments section below to share your results

Have a good week,
Danielle