Last week during the Teche Plein Air Competition, I attended a demo by the art judge Charlie Hunter. In addition to dumb snail jokes, he imparted some wisdom that I think could be applied to any art, writing included.
I’ve heard that on auto pilot, the plane is pointed in the wrong direction about 90% of the time, constantly correcting. When you are painting, you are constantly editing. Your mark does not have to be a genius mark.
What I gained from this art demo was practice makes miracles happen. He kept telling the artists, “Draw. Draw. Draw.”
Watching him work while constantly chatting was watching a miracle happen. He would dab paint here and there, erase with a paper towel, stick a q-tip in his mouth and remove paint with the small tip. He even used a squeegee to make the telephone poles. He worked around the bright white focal point of the empty parking lot. Amazing!
What I don’t need to mention is that he was painting with his left hand. He has no use of his right arm.
Perspective, vision, erasing…how can we translate this instruction to our own writing?
Reflections on the Teche 