The Minute Something Becomes Precious

Crime Face 2010 - Watercolor on paper - Paul Dodd
Crime Face 2010 – Watercolor on paper – Paul Dodd

Painting class ended for the year, just in time to do some more painting. During the last class (i.e. “therapy session”) I overheard Fred explaining another one of painting’s conundrums to a fellow student. Tony was working on a big abstract, one with what he calls “pours” of pigment and medium, and he had a nice section at the bottom of his painting that I had complimented him on earlier in the evening. I was only listening as I worked on my own set of problems but I know Fred was covering up that section on Tony’s painting when he launched into a familiar rap.

“The minute something becomes precious, it is a liability. You’re going to dance around it, trying to protect it at the expense of your painting.”

These universal guides, always address the worst first, if the question comes up the answer is yes, get to the point and then shut up, work for the other abstract painters in the class. They work for the women who paints animals, the guy who does Maine landscapes, my father’s whimsical watercolors and my crime face paintings. The guides, of course, are bigger than painting and that’s why they are universal.

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