Painting Practice

I’ve recently finished a new still-life painting and when I’d finished it, it rung a bell.

I’m pretty sure I’ve painted a starfish before.

I went back through some of my old work and, sure enough, there it was. One starfish on a coloured background with a couple of shells thrown in for good measure. I painted the first version in 2013 at an oil painting course at West Dean College.

It was really interesting to compare the two side-by-side. There’s actually quite a few things I like about the first one: The jaunty angle, the impasto, the perspective and the shells. I learnt a lot about the process of painting with oils in doing it.

The second one, completed this week comes from a different place. I’m 5 years further down the road with my art. I draw nearly every day. I set myself new challenges with the composition and background. I observed the light, shadows, abstract shapes, tone, colour, texture and form in a way that I just didn’t grasp in 2013.

So, my lessons to myself this week are:

Don’t throw old artwork away – keep it, learn from it, love the good bits, leave the bad bits.

And, practice, practice, practice. Keep learning, keep moving forward, keep sketching and observing. As David Hockney said “Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer and clearer still, until your eyes ache”. Perhaps that explains why, 5 years down the line, I’m also having to wear glasses.

Left: Starfish with Shells 2013

Right: Still-Life study – Textures 2018

(c) Bethany Moore