Painting in My Head

Today was spent in my other life--at the work I do to earn my living. I used to have a more flexible schedule as a consultant. My life situation changed quite dramatically 5 years ago. Now I'm free to paint only on weekends and holidays. I usually spend my vacation time painting, too. On days like today, when I don't get home until late and my eyes are too far gone to start working on a drawing or painting, I paint in my head. Whatever piece I'm working on, I visualize mixing the colors, laying in layers of paint. Like on a graphics program, when you paint in your head, there is a very effective "undo" button. Maybe that's why when I actually get down to work, I rarely hesitate over what to do.

That was the biggest challenge in making such a drastic medium change as I am making from oil to egg tempera. After working in oil for so many years, I had an order of tasks that I always followed. I always had a plan of attack--which part of the painting to work on first, how to blend the colors, when to start glazing--when to stop. When I made the change to a totally new medium, I found I no longer had that sense of authority that enabled me to move forward from the initial drawings all the way through to the last color glaze.

I came away from Koo Schadler's workshop with a roadmap. I knew what to do first and which bits of knowledge and experience were portable from oil painting to egg tempera (and which were not). Now I can paint in my head again because I can imagine what needs to be done.

That is not to say that there won't be surprises--that still happened in oil paint even after more than 30 years. If there were no surprises at all, what would have been the point in continuing?