Larry Moore, author of “Fishing for Elephants” demonstrates notan, 3-values, and color tan. He says “ask me WHY!”

In September I participated in a one-day plein air workshop on creative realism taught by artist and teacher Larry Moore.  He’s the author of Fishing for Elephants, a book about exploring creativity and finding your own voice in art.

Larry started his demonstration by noting that it can be overwhelming to paint outdoors. He explained that it’s helpful to break the painting process into components and practice each skill separately. Do a series of small studies focusing on values, color, or brushwork. He emphasized knowing your intent for the exercise and applying design principles.

Larry painted a small study illustrating the concept of notan, the play of light and dark.  He said to paint everything in shadow as black, leaving the light areas white.  By reducing the scene to only two values, you can see shapes and focus on design elements.  He moved on to a three-value study and to what he calls colortan, or replacing black, white, and gray with colors of the same value.

As he worked and encouraged questions, people asked the types of questions usually heard in such workshops, “What brush are you using?”  “What brand of paint do you use?”  “What color is that?” He stopped and said “You know there is no magic.  People ask me about materials hoping that they will finally find that one brush or paint color that will magically improve their paintings. Instead you should be asking WHY?” Why did you select that scene? Why did you use that type of brush?  Why did you make that change to the composition?

Asking why challenges the instructor to articulate concepts and encourages critical thinking skills in the student. It helps clarify intent. And painting is all about intent.  As you continue to ask yourself why after you leave the workshop, you will work toward defining your intent and be able to talk about your work.

If you’re interested in more about the topic of finding your own intent and voice, I recommend Larry Moore’s book Fishing for Elephants.