The myth of the magic brush

One thing I always tell my students is that there is no perfect ______(fill in the blank: subject matter, palette, brush, moment.) Years ago I took a workshop with the late Charles Reid. Having always been in awe of Charles, as we unpacked our supplies, I could immediately tell who the Charles Reid “groupies” were. There were a number of students who had clearly taken workshops with Charles before, and many of them had the same expensive, brass palette that the instructor had custom-made from Ireland. While many of his followers were very good painters, by end of the workshop I realized that having Charles Reid’s palette did not make them paint like Charles Reid!

I tell my students that story to remind them, that there is no “magic” palette, or brush, or color, or subject matter. Yes, I heartily believe that one MUST use good quality paints and paper and a brush that points well and holds water nicely. But those things simply help the paint to behave better. Yes, it is important to choose colors for your palette that “play well together”….. but if you wait for the perfect subject matter you are wasting your time. It is best to work from a photo, scene or still life that has good shapes, but most of that comes from how YOU see and interpret the subject matter. Some of the most ordinary subject matter or dull photos make the best paintings. As I like to say, if you have a magnificent photo, don’t bother painting from it…… it will be too intimidating and you will have nothing to bring to it. If you have the perfect photo, enlarge it and frame it and put it on your wall.

…and all of that time that you have spent searching for the magic is time you could have been painting and learning to make your own magic happen.

I am going to go paint now!