“Think of your painting as being an example of peripheral vision, with some areas being seen more sharply than others. Deliberately throw some forms a bit out of focus, or treat several forms purely as color areas or shapes that have no specific meaning or reference.
“… If you sense that a painting needs a green smudge here or a bright red accent there, put it in, whether or not it has a logical counterpart in nature.
“… Consider the idea of making your viewers put forth a little more effort to get the most out of what your pictures have to offer.”
Edward Betts, “Creative Landscape Painting”, page 86
A painting that doesn’t stipulate every tiny detail encourages the viewer to engage, interpret, and possibly never know why something is like it is. A poem not an instruction manual.
you are wonderful! that problem of making every detail count was the problem of a painting I did last week. finally fixed it with help from another teacher earlier. I love your posts.
You made my day! Thanks!