I decided to take a little break from Milan Art Institute because I felt like I was struggling with improving in painting, especially compared to my improvement in drawing. My biggest challenge is with mixing colors, particularly when looking at my previous Milan Art painting assignments.

So I searched for some oil painting books (because sometimes hearing about the same subject but told in a different way, by a different person, can help the message click) and came across Think Big, Paint Small: Oil Painting Easier, Faster & Better by Joyce Washor. The title reminded me of one of my Milan Art assignments where I opted to use a smaller size paper than usual. While working on that piece, I realized working on a smaller surface meant I could complete my piece more quickly. So smaller sized paintings = practice and iterate faster. And then the more paintings I paint, the quicker I can learn. So, this book really intrigued me and was heading in a direction that I wanted to go.

In the book, Think Big, Paint Small, there are 3 different color palettes Joyce uses: red/green, orange/blue, and yellow/purple. Over the course of two months, I did 15 tiny paintings, which were demos and exercises from the book.

Red/green palette

Creating the color charts to use as a reference was very helpful. After a few paintings, it started to be easier to use the book’s photos as references rather than reading what colors to mix together in the text.

Red/green color palette chart on a desk — Red/green color palette

Each tiny painting had its own theme or skill it focused on. This first one is about “blocking in the basic shapes” (Washor 62). Essentially, choose and paint in the colors for the largest shapes first, then use those colors as a base or anchor for the rest of the painting. Each object has a dark and a light side. I found the painting looks better when painting in the dark side first, and then the light side.

Oil painting of flowers in a vase — Blocking in basic shapes

“Shaping a three-dimensional image” (Washor 65) is about rounding the form - the focus on identifying and painting the different tones made by light and shadow on an object.

Still life oil painting of fruits — Shaping a three-dimensional image

“Capturing the mood” (Washor 84) emphasizes the advantage of being able to finish a painting in one session - your mood can change day to day and this can be reflected in the painting. I personally love being able to finish a whole painting in one session. There’s that feeling of accomplishment to know I’m done. Also, some days I get really in the flow, and other days it’s tough. So the quality of painting can fluctuate as well.

Still life oil painting of flowers with a glass — Capturing the mood

“Seeing the forest for the trees” (Washor 94) focuses on fitting a large scene into a small painting. The trick to do this is to draw the entire scene as one big shape, instead of many small shapes making a larger scene.

Oil painting of trees in a forest — Seeing a forest for the trees

In “using what inspires you”, Washor discusses how she has a number of red series, similar to Picasso with his blue series. The red/green color palette is the most popular in the book and the majority of these exercises use this palette. This particular painting focuses on using many different reds, yet making them distinguishable enough from each other that the viewer can still perceive the objects.

Still life oil painting of fruits with a glass — Using what inspires you

The challenge in “size really doesn’t matter” is to see how many objects can fit into one small format 3 x 4 inch painting. The small space means the objects cannot be too detailed, but still need to accurately represent what they are. Here is a foreshortened vase, turned on its side, accompanied by a bouquet of roses, another vase, and a teacup.

Still life oil painting of flowers with a cup and vases — Size really doesn’t matter

“Making color your subject” is about painting a landscape that is still recognizable as a landscape, yet using a different color palette (when have we seen yellow skies?) (Washor 110). I really loved the brightness of the yellow sky in this one, along with the brushstrokes for the tree branches.

Oil painting of trees in a landscape — Making color your subject

In “honey jar and sunflower”, Washor suggests mixing more paint than you think you need. It makes it easier to move the paint around, resulting in better brushwork. It also gives the paintings a more lush feeling (130). This is also the exercise where Washor suggests doing two paintings at a time. Either concurrently, so you can try different things on each canvas, or sequentially, so you’ll have more confidence the second time around.

Still life oil painting of a honey jar, salt shaker, and sunflower — Honey jar and sunflower

Orange/blue palette

Orange/blue color palette chart on a desk — Orange/blue color palette

After reading the advice from the previous exercise, I decided I would give two paintings at once a try. At this point, my speed was increasing so instead of one painting taking 3-4 hours, one painting was closer to 1.5 hrs or so. Of course though, both paintings need to use the same color palette.

I did the following two:

“Painting from reference photos” (Washor 88). This was the first exercise using a reference photo.
And “adding surface interest” (Washor 91) which uses a technique where the initial block-in is completed, then the paint is scraped off with a palette knife, leaving a “ghost of painting” left. This did not work out too great on my paper. I have scraped paint off canvas before when I’ve made mistakes, so I have an idea of how the “ghost” should look. I’m assuming this technique would work better on canvas or a different material.

Two oil paintings side by side. On the left side is a landscape, on the right side is a still life — Painting from reference photos (left), adding surface interest (right)

“Thinking of Van Gogh” is about being inspired by Van Gogh’s letters Washor read before visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Van Gogh: The Drawings exhibition, as a result, this painting is very blue (122). I love all the blue colors though, and how rich and juicy they feel.

Still life oil painting of flowers, fruits, and a vase — Thinking of Van Gogh

Yellow/purple palette

Yellow/purple color palette chart on a desk — Yellow/purple color palette

“Learning from the masters” is based on Washor’s inspiration from the American painter, Charles A. Platt (102). Her advice is to draw inspiration from the masters since “painterly problems are all addressed… trees are massed, atmospheric perspective is employed, composition is designed and colors are integrated throughout the composition” (102). I definitely agree, I love seeing how other artists use colors and brushstrokes.

Oil painting of a landscape with trees — Learning from the masters

We focus on painting the flowers in “painting the planes for realism” (Washor 113). Similar to painting the planes on a cube, this concept is applied to the flowers as well. When the light source is in the top right, the lightest plane is the top plane, and the next lightest is the side facing the right. Using different tones of red helps define the shape of the roses.

Still life oil painting of flowers with a pitcher and glass — Painting the planes for realism

Two oil paintings. The top one is a landscape and the bottom is sunflowers in a brass vase with an orange slice — Capturing the familiar (top) and Sunflowers and brass vase (bottom)

“Capturing the familiar” (Washor 118) is about painting what you know. The reference photo for this painting is a scene near Woodstock, NY near the author’s home. By painting a place familiar and comfortable to you, it allows you to focus on other things like using a different color scheme. Similar to how reading a book the second time, you notice new things you didn’t pick up on the first read. On the second read, you already know the plot and what happens, so more details capture your attention, making the reading experience richer.

“Sunflowers and brass vase” (125) is the final tiny painting exercise I did from this book. I haven’t quite figured out how to paint flower petals, however this painting ended up being my favorite one, especially with all the purples for the background and table.

Oil painting of sunflowers in a brass vase with an orange slice — Sunflowers and brass vase

In the photo below, you can see Washor’s version versus mine. Throughout this process I also started mixing colors in a kind of grid system so I could more easily remember what colors I mixed together.

My desk setup when painting multiple tiny paintings at once — My painting setup

Iterating quickly allowed me to experiment with thing to make painting more efficient. For instance, I figured out it was faster to mix all the colors I need for a certain area, and then paint. Instead of mixing a color, painting it on, and then mixing another color… and on and on. In addition, this allowed me to see if the colors look good together when they’re on the palette. If a color did not work out, I would just wipe it off the palette and start over, which is a lot easier than trying to correct the color after it has already been applied to the painting.

Other things I learned:

Paint the background and then the subject, so the subject feels more like it is in front of the background. I don’t know exactly why, but trying to do it the other way around just does not look as good.
Paint cast shadows first, since these areas are darker and I want them to stay darker. The cast shadows don’t retain their value as well or accidentally get too mixed or muddy with other colors if they don’t go on first.
Painting small is it’s less expensive, since I’m using less paint and smaller substrates.
There is less clean up. And I have been using a paper palette instead of the glass palette for these exercises.
Working smaller can feel more comfortable. There’s less pressure and anxiety about dirtying a pristine canvas or piece of paper when it’s 3 x4 inches. I’ve also got a nice pile of fresh ones waiting for me.
Storage is much easier, especially in a smaller studio space. Also, perhaps smaller is the way to go. In the United States, house sizes are shrinking. If people have less space in their homes, will they also opt for smaller paintings to decorate with?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it turned me on to painting tiny, which is something I definitely want to continue. So, until next time friends.