Fight Temptation

 As Van Gogh walked the back roads around the places he lived in southern France he came upon different scenes that drew him in. This is one of these places, He sat up his easel pulled up his canvas and pallet and began to rough in the back ground and sky.

I have done similar things in places I wanted to paint. Setting up, drawing in the general shapes, and then getting down to it, but then comes the temptation. "Da Da Da"  paint the leaves heavy, paint in the brush, and cover the lake with heavy waves.

And now that you have totally put yourself into the scene and lost the picture you're trying to fix. Stop, Stop, Stop!!! Take yourself out of the painting let your hand be the interpreter. Allow your eye control what you see and not your BRAIN. We want to paint what we know not what we feel or see. And all great painters do that. They paint what they see and leave it alone.

So let get out of the way of our canvas, painting is fun but man sometimes it is hard to let it go.
Lets keep our brushes wet and paint what we see not what we know.