Thanks, Sharon, I'd been looking for them ... well, almost everywhere, I now realize. Your timing is good, as I'm wrapping up my first SOG stint and heading out to the easel. (P.S. I'm only moody when the meds wear off, or when I'm awake, or dreaming.)

Carolyn,

The messy pastels. Plain white Canson Mi-Tientes paper, smooth side. I would like to return to them someday, but at the time I was paying a lot of money to learn oil painting, so that's where I invested my efforts.

Enzie,

One of the "techniques" was very long, sharp pencils and charcoal sticks, shaped with sandpaper blocks, together with kneaded erasers molded to very fine points. Before you know it, eighty hours are gone and you've got yourself a drawing.

Classic
 

I, too have been following this thread with much interest. Thank you Mai, for starting it. Juan, your work is beautiful. And Steven, I wish you would post more of yours, it's wonderful.

Jean

A bit more for Mai
 

First, thanks to all for their compliments on my work. It is always gratifying and inspiring to hear that from fellow painters.

Mai, your scientific/mathematical mind is probably one of the best things you can have going for you. As you have been gathering, the craft of painting requires intense focus, an agile mind, and disciplined, diligent practice. The only danger -- and that may be too strong a word -- is that of getting bogged-down in the minutiae of things. The "big picture" and first principles, or, in other words, the fundamentals, are always the prime concern. When I find myself discouraged by one thing or another in any given project, I go back a few steps to the bigger picture. Almost always, I discover that my frustration was caused by my having overlooked or having made a mistake in some fundamental aspect or another. It's rarely the thing that is frustrating me that actually caused it. Know what I mean?

Regarding your search for training, here are a couple of things to keep in mind, if I may. First, there are many effective systems of painting out there. The best of them share certain similarities, but each has their differences and peculiarities. As such, I would be careful not to venture too far afield. That is, it's better to fully appropriate one system, which is hard enough, and then later to pick and choose elements of others from time to time and fit them into your own. I've met a number of artists who are frustrated with their progress and, when examined more carefully, it seems to boil down to their having "cherry-picked" over the years from this teacher and from that. At best, this leads to confusion.

Once you find a system that suits you (an artist whose work you admire is not a bad place to look) and a teacher/mentor/advisor whom you are in tune with, I would recommend that you stick with him/her for as long as possible until you've appropriated that system fully. As long as this process takes -- and it can be years -- it is still the fast-track.

Anyway, it sounds as if you are already doing many of the right things.

As the Italians say, "In boca lupo"

Juan

I just tripped over this! A superlative thread! Thank you Juan, Steven, Sharon, and any I might have missed.

Maybe Cynthia should post a "Best of SOG Forum ." Three of four of the best threads in a given month. Between trips, work, and life in general, it is easy to miss the more insightful, uplifting, and educational postings. I nominate this for the first entry!

Peggy

Thanks, Juan, for you advice and encouragement!

I will persevere!

Mai :)