Painting the Renaissance Way

 Learning to paint by copying the Masters

Since Renaissance Times, this is how painting was taught. You attempt to get the pose, the look, the brushstrokes, the negative shapes, size, proportions, and energy of the Old European Masters. In fact, at one time, classes were held in museums where students had easels and media to actually interpret the famous painting right before their eyes. All that is changed today, of course.

One thing that hasn’t changed, and that is to do this kind of work, and do it well, you must have patience with yourself. Not an easy talent to develop. For many years while teaching high school, I totally lacked patience for my own art. I was in survival mode, and as a single parent raising my baby daughter, I was loaded with patience for my students and my daughter, but not myself. Then somewhere I read that we lack patience with ourselves, with our work, when we don’t think our work is good enough. The old comparing yourself to someone else syndrome, which smothers creativity at it’s core!

I began to make time to do my work, wherever the inspiration took me. I really slowed down and paid attention to the process, learning, improving my techniques. I expanded and took classes in other areas, since with each thing I did, I was really learning something about myself. My self-esteem grew as I improved, and just kept pushing the envelope.

In the online painting class I’m taking now, it all comes back to me. I can see the students with patience with themselves, who take time to really see the elements that make it all work. And I see the others, who just rush thru it. They don’t feel their work warrants the time, patience, and care needed to really get good. Then of course, their final product shows all of this in each case. That’s the problem. You must first feel worthy Inside, value all you do, all you create, without comparing yourself to anyone else, BEFORE you are able to apply that patience to your art, to your Life. Very Tricky business.