Aphorisms for Artists by Walter Darby Bannard

Aphorism #52

When making a painting, only one thing counts: what you do next.

The next thing you do to a painting changes the painting, and that choice was made with every previous change right in front of you.

Ask yourself: did I really evaluate the whole picture every time I made a change? Or did I just put some paint where there wasn’t any, or because I had some left on the brush, or because I had a plan I didn’t want to alter?

You make a thousand new paintings to make one new painting, and you need to fully comprehend each one.

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