Personal Style

This week a friend emailed to ask me about developing a personal style.    How can an artist just learning to paint with oils outdoors have their own style rather than mimicking the style of their teachers?     I don't think of myself as a Wise Woman, but I sent my friend an answer and I think it's true, so I thought I'd share it here.

I think style results from persistence.    You paint until you like what you've got.  Maybe even go back another day with fresh eyes and improve on it.  Then apply what you have learned to your next painting.  The solutions you find in one painting show up in the next.  The sum of your solutions, carried over into a body of work, develops into a recognizable style.    You may get some of your solutions from your mentors, but the more you paint, the more your preferences and problem solving will create a unique style.  

​Part of the look of my work comes from the type of brushes I like to use.  Part comes from my choice of colors to mix (Cerulean and Yellow Ochre for sage brush). Part comes from my compositional choices.  All of those developed through trial and error, and they continue to evolve.   The sum of them makes a painting that looks like one of mine.     

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