Old Dog - New Tricks

Have you ever taken a tennis or golf lesson, only to find yourself unable to play at all the next time out? That's because you are thinking too much!  Here are five of the new techniques I was thinking about today as I practiced what I learned at the workshop. I felt like a beginner!  

1. Tone the board a complementary color of the main subject. 

(I always tone my boards a middle grey)  

2. Use view finder to crop subject for more drama 

(I tend to put my subject right in the middle) 

3. Start with the most vulnerable colors ie. any saturated color in danger of getting dirty

 (I've always started with the darkest dark.) 

4. Mix up the correct value, put down a stroke and leave it alone! 

(I tend to go back over it and make mud) 

5. Push the stokes over the "lines", then cut in for softer edges 

(I tend to make my strokes "butt" right up to each other making too many hard edges) 

I kept falling back into my old habits! This old dog will just have to keep at it, until it comes naturally,
I guess.