Painting big

What a Ko-inky-dink. I just finished 45 small pieces (5″x7″-12″x24″) for a show next week; yesterday I wrote a note to myself: “Time to go big; larger brushes, larger renditions”. It’s simply a matter of magnifying the thumbnails. Larger paintings are more exciting.

Dear Robert, Ok, first and foremost, Henry Moore should give his head a BIG squeeze. Nobody is GOD and it is nothing short of arrogance to think otherwise. I’m just say’in…. Second, doing big paintings can prove some challenges. First of all, it is way more paint and way more canvas. It can be overwhelming at first to see all that white space. But as the piece slowly comes together, and it is a slow start, it can be exhilarating. Like putting together the pieces of a puzzle or working on a mathematical equation, the work takes hold. You wonder if the piece is ever going to be finished. As areas become complete, it is exciting to look back over these parts with some distance. And as that last dab of paint goes on and the piece is deemed finished, it can be truly satisfying. I always recommend doing a larger piece, not only for the challenge, but for the sheer joy. Selling a large painting is another challenge entirely… John Ferrie

Whether you are painting small or large, it’s all about composition and gesture. That’s why thumbnails and using the largest tools that will work are so important. Even if you have to modify what you see to make the gesture/composition more effective, you should do it! Details are secondary, even in portraits. In this economy, small paintings may sell better, but it is the large dramatic paintings that will get people to look at your work. So you need at least a few large dramatic paintings for display. Large size adds drama to a painting all by itself. And it’s a real ego boost.

Big is better, you have room to move around within the image, but remember that in big paintings your mantra should be “No dead Paint” large areas must stand on their own with colour that has life or no matter how well drawn or composed it will fail.

Painting big has a real advantage, it forces you to paint standing up and to use large brushes, your whole arm and large body motions. It really loosens up your work. A bright bold abstract in a large size really catches your eye and has a lot more punch that a smaller one.

Scott Christensen used to say that the only thing worse than an ugly painting is a big and ugly painting. Upon his approach to one of my paintings in his class I said, “Scott, I know it is ugly but it is small!” He reservedly smiled.

To me, this was a rare misguided missive. By this measure, are you suggesting painting really huge teapots? From photographs? Audrey Flack was hoisted by her own canard. She painted big and from photographs. That list of “bad” painters includes some of this century’s innovators, people who broadened the visual vocabulary of painting. Ms. Flack seemed to be desperately hanging on to reality and fearful of her imagination. She stuck with her schtick and to me, always seemed stuck with it.

It is so liberating to expand ones vision. I have moved from 5 x 7″ pen and ink 40 years ago to a recent commission of two canvases, each 6′ x 6′. Those paintings taught me a great deal about planning, layout and use of color for impact. A reducing’ glass is a necessity when working big, especially in a small space which is all that I have to work in. Alternating between average size such as 16 x 20″ to 4 x 5′ is nothing short of a trip!

I am a piano teacher by profession, yet I have practiced art since I was a kid, drawing when I had a spare moment. Although I am very busy with students, I strive to do some art every day. Your information keeps me energized and hopeful that someday I will be able to devote much more time to painting. This June, I was able to participate in a week-long workshop in Bend, Oregon, with the Australian watercolorist John Lovett. I was so happy to paint all day long for five great days, and I fit right in with the rest of the group — very nurturing, filled with inner discovery. And I want to do much more. Portland, Oregon

I agree that making a thumbnail or sketch for a large painting saves time and headaches, but I don’t agree that blowing up a small painting into larger than life size will automatically provide drama and excitement. I’ve been telling people for years to paint bigger, and their answer is to come back with a reworked version of an idea that was OK on a small scale but didn’t have the depth to transfer to the big canvas. If you want to paint bigger, think bigger!

I know of an artist by last name “Ernst.” He always paints on huge canvases. His work is sold for thousands per on the East Side of the States, of course. Evidently, he thinks ‘big’ and can master the art on large scale. (I liked the comment that if you cannot paint well, paint big. Reminded me of bands playing….If you can’t play good, play loud.) This has nothing at all to do with Ernst’s art creations. The lad is a well educated, dedicated and an excellent large canvas artist. Plus he earns a living with his fabulous art.

I like to paint big. I really don’t like to paint very small and am always amazed by how many painters that I admire do paint small…sometimes what I would consider very small.

I love the yogurt comments. I use the quart containers for my water, the plastic lids become my paint palettes, and the small yogurt containers become mixed-color containers when I work with pour-and-blend technique. Yogurt containers/tops are wonderful for travel as well. Thank you Stonyfield (yogurt brand) for filling such diverse needs. And, I thought I was the only one to realize this use!

Being a devil I’ll take the devil’s advocate position that bigger is not better. As a matter of fact it is worse because there’s a waste of everything since every goes ultimately to waste anyway, My proposition is to think small instead. Very small. As a matter of fact think yourself a microbe. I assure you the world appears quite vast under such conditions. It is a matter of perspective like us artists profess. I create small worlds such as aquariums and ponds. To magnify the scale I insert small ships and imaginatively travel throughout my constructions. The same applies to the visual art. Painting or sculpting big is only a time consuming affair effective only in postponing the completion of the end result. As a matter of another fact I now construct small ephemeral erection that I photograph from a very up-close perspective and voila! Of course I explain my philosophy to prospective buyers and they pay me with diminutive imaginary banknotes… lol

On the other hand, there are artists that paint VERY well, and choose to paint BIG simply because a large image has so much more visual impact than a small image. There are always trade offs. Working large is a problem for many simply because of logistics. It’s difficult to move and transport an eight foot painting, and it takes a much longer period of time to create a good large painting than a small one.

Some other things Lanie will find out, is: It costs a lot more to frame a large painting, If you do choose to frame it, will cost a lot more than a 5 x 7, canvas and the paint costs more, and shipping to and from, if it doesn’t sell, costs more. The last is it will take a lot longer to paint 36 x 60 than a 5 x 7. Thanks and good luck

I learned a couple of things while getting my BFA. “When in doubt, Stretch it out!” and “If it’s good small, it’ll be Great, Big!! That was the mindset. I nearly did a Mary Poppins carrying a canvas bigger than I was across the campus one windy day.

I gave a talk to an art group last week called “Creating Drama on the Canvas”. Number one out of 9 was “get a big canvas”. I brought in a 72×48″ blank stretched linen canvas for my projector screen, and most of the painters had never seen an empty canvas that large before. They were a little intimidated. I have about six empty big ones in my studio so that they are there when I get the urge. I actually find that the big pieces are much easier for me than a 16×20″. And, except for the primary wash, I generally use a number 1 or number 2 flat brush. I just realized that this year.

The strength of a large unencumbered area in a painting gives strength to the details. The mass serves as a foil that accentuates and delivers.

These are great thoughts….I like to strive for “larger than life compositions”. I fill a 24 x 30 canvas with one eggplant. It is great fun to “think big”

I, too, am being drawn to painting big after years of painting smaller landscapes. Some just scream at me to be a larger size. Sometimes I do a larger version (12″x24″ or 18″x24″) but this is still not as large as I’d like to go. The problem is my small studio space and where to store the painting after it’s completed. Is it time for me to risk the cost of an outside studio just so I can paint big? That seems to be the solution I keep coming up with and then stopping short of making the commitment.

I do remember listening to the Artists Helping Artists radio show a few months ago and heard Debra Huse (artist & gallery owner) say to the effect that, if you don’t paint big you can’t sell big. She pointed out that a lot of her customers to her gallery are looking for big pieces and if an artist hasn’t painted a large painting she can’t sell it. Now I just have to figure out how to paint large in my tiny studio where I don’t have much room to even turn around without knocking something over.

Subject matter for a larger work is to be considered – abstracts pack a real punch as larger pieces. Portraits of almost life size are far more appealing, which allows the artist to paint torso and hands. Of course, panoramic landscapes. One can go too large, enough so to eliminate a portion of your market. How many residences have rooms large enough to accomodate a 30″ x 40″ painting with a 4″ wide frame? If you’re painting for a public space, you have the freedom to go pretty much as large as you want … just keep in mind who or what you are painting for. I much prefer working slightly larger, 30″ x 24″ minimum. I recently completed a 20″ x 24″ landscape because the commission called for it … it killed me. It would have been a far superior painting at 24″ x 30″, ho-hum, when it could have been hmmm, very nice. I can’t paint small and have never understood the attraction. I want a painting that makes a positive statement with enough investment of time, size, paint, and effort.

Not being a painter… I once worked on 4 textile pieces going to Japan made out of silk- that were designed on a computer screen- and then the patterns blown up. It was a joke. I had to explain to the artist/designers that doing so would never work- and they in fact had to take the blown up patterns and redraw/design all 4 pieces (say 5′ x 20′) at scale because all the proportions of all of the pieces were off by a mile. I worked for this couple one other time. I had to get the female/painter to free herself from a 1″ brush and instead use a 4″ brush just to begin to paint a couple of big canvasses. My work has often been big- 5′ x 8′- or whatever- but people think it was made for a bed! WRONG! Guess what? It gets into the prestigious shows and has been impossible to sell. Right now I’m making new work less that 24″ in any direction. Have to create a new market. For the time- the big ones are killing me… though I’ve got a few in motion-

The only difference between a big painting and a small painting is how far away one needs to stand to look at it.

When I plan a large painting, I project my thumbnail or sketch right onto the canvas. I do it in an unlit studio so I can really see the carrying power of the composition. Paintings are all about viewing distance. When you work on a 6″x8″ canvas and your standing 2 feet away from it, imagine multiplying the dimensions by let’s say 6, then it’s as though your standing 12′ away from a 36″x48″ canvas. I always try to remember this when I’m working on a very large canvas. This means put on the walking shoes, because you should be walking away from the canvas often to maintain it’s strength of design and not fill the canvas with a lot of unnecessary elements.

Here’s to bigness! It takes not only courage, but space, to paint large. In my “watercolor days” the size of my paintings were restricted by my workspace and the 22″ x 30″ limitation of watercolor paper. It is much easier to be free and expressive with a big canvas and big brushes….I recommend it for everyone who has a garage! My most recent painting, which was completed yesterday is a splashy race horse scene, 4′ by 10′ for a client’s wall.

In the eighties, I worked doing layout work and underpainting for a very well know southwestern artist. After a couple of 30″ X 40″ pieces, he put me on a layout and color block-in of a diptic with each panel being 8ft. X 6″ for a finished size of 8ft X 12ft. A real challenge after my usual 16″ X 20″s or similar sizes. His word of advice was that no one will take you as a serious artist until you paint big. I have heeded that advice from time to time over the years, and do love to paint large, although the size constraints of my current vehicle is about 48″ X 72″.

I feel like a bit of a doofus in admitting this, however, until this letter it NEVER dawned on me to upscale my brushes if painting larger. Currently I paint very tiny works with very tiny strokes with very tiny brushes. I was so hooked on my teeny “one-haired” brushes that I couldn’t fathom painting a larger scale work! Get bigger brushes and paint the same strokes was so obvious that I just never saw it…feelin’ a little “duh” moment ( and I thank you :) Anxious to try it!

A couple of years ago, I moved studios, from a cramped, nearly windowless basement room, to a 500 sq. ft. studio space with large, light-filled, industrial-sized windows and a 14 ft. ceiling. What liberation! Immediately, I got the urge to paint large. What joy!

For the first time ever, I must disagree with you. I have tons of thumbnails or 5×7 drawings/sketches that were meant to go on bigger canvases (60×48, 48×36, etc.). They never work. What I have frequently done is have a very rough idea of the design in a thumbnail and then use those elements as a base for the possible composition on transfer paper that is taped onto the canvas. That gives me the right proportions from the very beginning. Still, 95% of the time, my small sketches do not work on big canvases. I find it easier and less troublesome to sketch from scratch onto the transfer paper or the canvas itself. The case must not be made on a definitive basis that it’s best to sketch small before going big. It may work for some, but not all.

About 3 years ago, I set my task of “going big” and have done 2 4’x6′ paintings, and one 5’x5′ one. It was great fun, and I used a lot of paint and big brushes. My best expereience was at Artscape on Toronto Island, where I had a huge studio space. The challenge in these works was to hold it all together as I went along – there are many underlayers to the works. Going big is like directing an orchestra, instead of a trio!

learn to use your left hand, because your right hand is gonna get tired…I was painting with a knife so the switch was easier…Know that a regular car can usually only take max. a 36×48 painting…My 48×60″s required me to walk down the street to the gallery carrying one at a time in my arms…(which is great publicity for the gallery btw)…If you are gleaning subject from plein air, you can rest the cross bars of the canvas on one of those orange & black striped construction cones…I’d lay it flat & do my sketching that way…(some workers let me take one of the cones home-the ones with the flat open top)…Know that scaling up from small misses details that you didn’t get on the small sketch…This can be good or bad…Good for clarity but people like to look at complexity because they think it is technically harder to do-so it is a choice…Linen sags on big, so be prepared to learn about how to tighten things up- Best metal corners are a neat piece of hardware…(a diagonal accessory that you screw in)…Oils take longer to dry on big- so take up knitting or something so you don’t put your dammar on too early due to impatience…I use zeolite rocks to absorb smell- put them behind your canvas in storage…Baking powder in the studio helps too…Christo used to eat plain yogurt with raw garlic chopped in, made by his now late wife Jeanne-Claude…The yogurt cuts the extreme spice of the raw garlic & the garlic cleans your head of paint fumes…After you have gone big in painting, you may feel the urge to try sculpture which is even bigger & more exercise…I was carrying huge bags of wild bird seed to trumpeter swans in winter, which toned my arms to move into sculpture…Bigger is heavier- train for that…

I get grumbles from the gallery and my family that I’m TOO SMALL but I am going BIGGER now. Like you said, the trick is to scale up the strokes and the simplicity so that we don’t become too bitty during the expansion. It’s working! Thanks, Ron in Victoria.

Half a dozen huge, unsold canvases need storing somewhere… that’s about quarter of an average bedroom…

I was always taught that upscaling definitely needed a change in composition and its elements, otherwise it was unlikely to work. ‘bad-painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barnet Newman, Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, etc.’ Huh? Have things changed so radically in the US that there can be a statement like this? I suppose if realism is the new-ish trend, then it’s normal in art history to reject what is past…..but…. Or was bad-painter used in this context as ‘bad-boy’ painter in revolt against academicism? This would make more sense to me.

As someone just at the beginning of my painting experience, I have to tell you I’m at a loss for painting small! I buy the small canvases, because I’ve been told that starting small will save me money on paint. But I don’t even open the packages, they are voiceless if that’s a word. Silent, they say nothing, and frankly, they scare me. I can hardly find a large enough canvas. Is that because of the message I want to send? Or have I just waited too long to start my painting experience and the pent up voice in my head figures it won’t be able to express itself on a tiny canvas? I have no idea, I only know the large canvas feels like home, feels inviting and is so full that I just can’t imagine using small canvases.

My miniature figurative etchings could be blown up to room size. I know the intimacy of viewing them in their original scale, sometimes with a a magnifier, would be lost. They would become another entity, another statement about human drama, humor, or anatomical range of motion. Worth a try!

Thank you Robert for posting my question and for your words of wisdom. Thank you all for taking the time to post your thoughts and experiences on painting big. I will put it to good use.

A reducing glass is helpful. It was a tool common in the now extinct giant “paint” billboards studios. The craftsmanship in some of those monsters up above Hollywood Blvd. was amazing. In art school back in the early ’80s one of my classes visited the Foster & Kleiser billboard studio. We learned a ton about how to paint big.

Robert and others, regarding GOING BIG! I took a wonderful weeklong class with Birgit O’Connor this past summer. I had never painted as large as I did that week. WOW, what a relavation. Amazing was the constant sentiment when I returned home to ‘show off’ my encounters of color. The general thoughts all of you gave is to start small and enlarge as you go. I have tried going cold turkey BIG, at home in my studio; only to find that I seem to be stifled. I am going to try your cumulative advice. Thanks so much for the extremely enlightening comments. Schenectady, NY

Since I regard a sheet of paper 11 x 15 as a challenge to see how to cut it up most efficiently into miniatures, I LOVE this article ! In a rather perverse way, I must admit. Especially the critics commenting on the likes of Jackson Pollock…….. Now I must go eat my yogurt. (Huxley,AB)