As much as it surprises me, even within realist art I notice a tendency for people to see painting loosely as something desirable and painting “tight” as somehow restrictive and undesirable, limiting in some way. Even the word “tight” seems to have pejorative connotations in connection with painting.
Why paint loose?
I do think there are good reasons for people wanting to paint loosely. A good place to start looking for them might be well known, “loose” realist painters, the really popular ones. For me, the ones that spring to mind are Sargent, Rembrandt and Velazquez.
Paint like Sargent
Sargent is an obvious choice, the preeminent bravura painter. Look at his later work, the life in the brush strokes, the way a simple stroke can show so much, the sheer economy.
His portraits have such life, surely the bravura brush strokes are what gives them their strength? If we could paint similarly loosely, might we be able to approach his level?
Paint like Velazquez
Look also at later Velazquez, the atmosphere and depth, the life in those figures – again, conveyed with such economy and brevity.
Velazquez is often thought of as the first impressionist, and it’s easy to see why. Although there’s nothing remotely impressionist about his colour, his later work is certainly loose, and I think people often see looseness as a feature of impressionism.
Paint like Rembrandt
And Rembrandt’s later work. He began quite “tight” when he was younger (as did Velazquez) but when he was painting his strongest narrative scenes and portraits, he employed a looseness that makes his canvasses live without ever losing the character and presence of the subject.
So it’s natural to assume that the looseness of the style of these truly great artists is largely responsible for the impact of the later work, and that looseness is something to aspire to.
How to paint loose?
There’s an awful lot of advice out there on the web that promises to help you paint more loosely. Here’s a few gems I found with a cursory search:
- Stand up to paint.
- Use big brushes.
- Use lots of paint.
- Paint what you feel, not what you see (there’s usually no detailed advice on how to achieve this difficult task, though…)
- I’ve even seen serious advice to paint with your non-dominant hand (hello? You’ll just paint less well).
- Paint the picture upside down. (Don’t get me started on this one, really.)
You must make up your own mind of course about the usefulness of this advice. As far as I can see, none of it will help you paint better.
I think most of it is a hang-over from modernism, especially the whole “paint what you feel” thing. I also think it’s time we put such unhelpful ideas to bed and got on with developing our drawing and painting skills instead. Last I looked, skill was a good thing, not a hindrance. And painting well is quite hard enough without trying to do it with one hand behind our backs.
How to paint loosely – well
It’s the very economy of loose painting that makes it so hard to do well. If you’re going to show a collar or the back of a hand (the portrait of Jan Six, for instance) with a few brief strokes, you can’t afford to have anything out of place:
- You need to be able to draw well. Everything needs to be in the right place. If it isn’t, it won’t work.
- You need to have a really good grasp of values. Whether intuitively developed over many years or deliberately practiced, if this grasp of values isn’t there, the painting simply will not work
- You need a very good sense of colour, both how to paint it accurately and how to manipulate it for effect
If you don’t have all of these, what you’ll end up with – and I’m sorry to say this – is more mess than loose.
Frankly, unless you can already work “tight” and do it well, you can’t work loose. Loosening up comes naturally after you’ve achieved enough enough control to do it well.
All of those artists I mentioned above – Sargent, Velazquez, Rembrandt – produced extremely skilled tighter work before they began to paint loosely. They earned their brevity, through hours and hours of practice and sheer effort. They didn’t sit back and “let it happen”. And I’m pretty sure they didn’t paint with their non-dominant hand.
Time for some examples
I could always just post some pictures of stunning loose works by famous painters of the past here, but I thought I’d show something a little closer to home. Just to show how doable this is. Here are two pieces by current students of my Mastering Colour course.
Here’s a study of a pear. This, to me, is an example of loose painting done right.
This assignment is a colour block in, and is all about getting as close as you can to the colour you see.
It’s not an easy exercise at all, and Heather, who’s study this is, worked diligently through a lot of course material, and produced quite a few of these block-ins before she hit this point. But she’s nailed the drawing, the values and the colour, and that’s why this study works so well.
Here’s another example of an earlier assignment in the course. This is by Pejmann, and he’s done an amazing job of it.
You might think this is a tightly controlled study, and it is. But when you can nail colour and drawing this well, you have the freedom to start to make choices about how you interpret your subject, whether you want to paint in a very highly finished style or a more loose style. Pejmann has earned that through practice.
What these two studies have in common is sound drawing, good values, and accurate colour. That’s why they work. Not because they’re loose or tight.
Finally, how to really paint loose – and do it well
First, learn control. Work until your fingers bleed. Then loosen up all you like, and your work will be incredibly beautiful. In fact, if you tend towards looseness, it will happen without you trying.
If you do get those basics first, then painting loosely can create beautiful results.
But you have to earn it.
Best wishes and thanks for reading
Paul
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Thank you for this. I prefer more realistic paintings but marvel at those who can achieve realism “loosely”. I even took a course once where the instructor said “anyone can paint realistically, it’s much harder to paint loose and painterly”. He forgot to mention the part you stress: yabbut, you’ve got to be able to do the drawing, values and color well first. Thanks for this.
I agree
This guy’s advice is irrelevant when it comes to watercolour though, if you paint in oils then tightness is more appropriate
Again you said it brilliantly Paul, control first, freedom later. If you don’t draw well and know your colors you are at a disadvantage. Thank you
Helga
well said. You just helped me.
Paul, thank you, thank you, thank you for your contrary words of wisdom. What a relief! In the classes I’ve taken from time to time I’m always told i paint too ‘tight’. From this day forward I’ll take it as a compliment and hopefully one day I’ll paint tight enough to loosen up 🙂
Diana, your post was 2017 and this is already March 2020. Just in case you actually see this I will tell you my feelings. I have painted over 50 years and along my way I have tried all sorts of ways, but I always return to realism. I finally decided – I am good at realism – why fight it? Now I just try to paint more and more realism. Realism and photo realistic in my thinking is different. Many painters can paint realistic, put photo realism is the top of the pole. Perfect values, perfect color, perfect brush control and perfect “seeing” to see what need to be done. I would do photo realism if I was able. MY skills are still not so good. I will just keep trying……..you too………love the details. lol Roena King
Thank you Paul. A good post and very right. I love to draw and my drawings are very carefully done. I have drawn more than painting. Now that I’m painting more I feel that I can loosen up and not make a mess because of my discipline in drawing. It took a long time.
There’s a fine line between “loose” and “unfinished / unrefined.” Knowing the difference comes with experience. And there’s no real shortcut to developing experience : just paint, paint, paint with purpose!
Paul-can you help me understand what exactly is meant by “economy” in this context? Thanks!!
Camilla: I don’t want to speak for Paul, but my understanding of the term “economy” could almost be synonymous with “efficiency.” That is, let’s say you’re painting a hand. An economical painter may be able to paint it in a few strokes, while another painter may take hundreds or even thousands of strokes.
Paul: have you read Loomis’s “Creative Illustration”? He gives practically the same advice as you. He says that the best loose painters started off more tight and rendered.
I learned to paint quite tightly and am good enough at it. I’ve spent a few years trying to loosen up but don’t feel like I’ve been able to do it. I can lay down the broader planes and put them in the right spot and right value, but I think I see the “ugly” brushstroke and always feel like I have to smooth it out and end up blending it and killing it.
On top of this, since we’re painting from nature, I think it’s also true that nature doesn’t look like big juicy brushstrokes and so there’s a tendency to smooth the strokes out and start rendering. I guess stepping back and painting from a distance could help that issue…
That is, a john singer sargent looks like nature from 10 feet, but not 10 inches.
And another type of loose painting, more abstract, like a Quang Ho, well…. that’s both a combination of design and observation… not so strictly sticking to observation. That’s easier said than done, especially if you’re used to painting what you see as you see it.
But my experiments have helped my tighter paintings get more economical and broad. I used to spend a long long time patting at the paint. Now I usually paint with very deliberate patches/tiles of paint. I just find that I can’t leave the abstract brushy stroke and end up brushing my tiles together.
That said, I love looser paintings and wish I could just let it go and do it myself.
Great post and topic!
“I can lay down the broader planes and put them in the right spot and right value, but I think I see the “ugly” brushstroke and always feel like I have to smooth it out and end up blending it and killing it”
I am of the opinion there are no ugly brushstrokes. Just wrong shape color or value.
For a person that already has (daily) experience in drawing, does Paul’s online course’s Mastering Colour fit as also an introduction to painting? Or should i first study the basics elsewhere?
Thanks.
Your comments on this subject – How to loosen up… are the best I’ve come across in seventy years of grappling with the problems of achieving such a look in my paintings. Some may construe your advice as being little more than a counsel of despair; I don’t. You are right to point us to the masters of (apparent) “looseness” and to stress the years of application it took them to paint the way they, eventually, did.
Congratulations too on your own progress.
Right on Paul. This is why, even the impressionists started out tight and later work became loose without loosing a sense of the subject. I just visited the Orangerie in Paris and viewed Monet’s large scale paintings that up close, are strokes of color that look randomly placed until you step back and the image comes into focus like magic. These paintings are alive with a life force only achieved through years of practice and mastery.
I am studying with an ex-jockey turned artist how to paint horses. At some point my style might loosen up but right now it is most important to get the details of the anatomy correct. So Paul is right about learning to paint tight first. After all, before you can break the rules, you need to master them first.
Hi Paul,
Is learning to paint tightly always the best way to learn how to paint loosely?
How about quick, half a day, direct painting? How could you encourage yourself to loosen up once you’ve become controlling? How do you forget and let go again?
bit late coming to this, teaching adults I had designated this month, June 2018, to ‘loosening up’, I had already decided to do half and half, loosening up and tightening up because of course different people like different kinds of art. Fairly often a student will say, ‘I wish I could loosen up, be more free’ on the other hand more frequently a student will say of their work, ‘it isn’t right’ I would agree that it is far better to learn to draw properly then loosen up other wise it will lack depth, on the other hand I don’t think people loosen up naturally, I think they have to break through some inhibitions and learn to accept that some accuracy may be sacrificed for more liveliness.
Yes, I think you’re right Dave. I get carried away with the points I’m making sometimes, because I want to get something I think will help across. But perhaps once a good level of accuracy has been achieved, it will take a conscious effort to relax and allow for more expression.
What saddens me is that “loosening up” seems to have become default advice, and unless it’s informed by the deeper seeing that comes from being able to draw or paint accurately, it can become random marks that don’t describe or add anything.
yes, there has long been a default position that loosening up is good, I always say it isn’t obligatory and that in fact it is a fairly new idea that a sketch can be presented as a finished work rather than preparation. I usually link it with Impressionism but point out that they in fact knew how to paint and draw well, and hadn’t skipped the essentials. I went to a degree show last week and every painting I saw looked deliberately (I think deliberately) poor in skill, it was pretty depressing. I have adjusted my lessons this month to mostly tightening up and a little loosening! Coincidentally I just picked up an old copy of Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis and the cover is a lovely drawing of Christ’s thorn crowned head, loosely drawn but very well observed and understood.
YES!!!
So true!
I can’t thank you enough Paul for taking up this issue and speaking up about it. For 10 years I’ve had an entire community of “artists” criticizing me for drawing and painting “too tight and so precise and finely”. They keep nagging but I keep honing in my skills. When I asked my draw/painting teacher why people always tell you to use the biggest brushes possible (he shows us to use smaller ones), why they say to cover the (white) canvas most quickly, he replied “If you want to spend all your painting time correcting what you put down, then do these things quickly, the problem if you don’t take your time you’ll end up with tons of problems and then wonder why things don’t look right”.
The problem is that everyone wants to paint like Monet or Cezanne but no one is willing to do what these painters did, namely paint the same cathedral façade 30 times, the same mountain 40 times and as many haystacks. People think you just brandish a paintbrush like a sword and that makes you an artist.
Back to my criticizing bunch of “artists”, they’re surprised now to see that my work has strength and substance. We need to build up knowledge and skills with miles of careful practice. After all it’s well understood that musicians practice scales, I don’t see why painters and sculptors shouldn’t too.
Thank you for a great post!
Excellent, this has brought to mind the parallels with handwriting! Very much the same idea I think. You have described it perfectly.
some time ago you recommended here the book ‘Peak’ by Anders Ericsson and one thing Ericsson stresses time and again is, that when it comes to mastery, nothing comes out of the blue. Shear effort isn’t enough. Your practice has to be deliberate. The task at hand needs to be broken down, practiced separatly and preferably evaluated through feedback.
That in mind, a profound understanding of form, color and value are for sure necessary requirements for painting loose but knowing to paint tight isn’t enough.
If you want to paint loose, you have to practice painting loose.
You have to break down what it means to paint loose and you have to come up with strategies to practice each of these elements separatly. Although I have not the faintest idea what these elements are, I am pretty sure that this is the way to go.
Knowing to paint tight well doesn’t automatically makes you a good loose painter. You have to put a good amount of deliberate effort in it – and a good part of this effort needs to be away from the easel considering what loose painting actually is made of and how these bits and pieces can be practiced on their own.
My point isn’t that knowing how to paint tight automatically means you can paint loosely. It’s that to paint tightly (I prefer the phrase “highly finished”) you have to have solid drawing, good values, and good colour. If you have those three, painting loosely is simply a matter of simplifying the subject. It’s easy. There are no special skills required, just sound drawing, good values, good colour, and a broader, more simplified approach. A lower level of finish, if you like.
The peak book is excellent. But the main point that people often miss, that’s stressed in the book, is that the point of practice is to develop more sophisticated metal representations, which then allow the synthesis of many complex skills. Metal representations of form, value and colour are what allow you the freedom to pant in a more finished or a looser style.
Thanks for the comment, you’ve helped me clarify that point and it may not have been stated emphatically enough in the post.
thanks for your reply Paul and the reminder of the importance of the mental representations involved but I disagree with you that “painting loosely is simply a matter of simplifying the subject. It’s easy.”
My own experience is that it is not easy at all. At least my mental representation of a loose style (in contrast to beeing sloopy or something) contains some degree of abstraction, of “boiling down”, which goes beyond mere reproduction and needs a fair amount of cognitive effort.
I think this “finding the essence” needs practice on it’s own realm and doesn’t consist solely of a good understanding of form, value and color (which – don’t get me wrong – are essential)
What’s still puzzling me is how to make this practice “deliberate”
I read “Peak” as well and am interested in deliberate practice.. I recall one aspect of deliberate practice was to isolate the thing you want to improve (which means you know what improvement would look like), know physically how to improve it (probably with the guidance and advice of an expert), and slowly practice that one thing until you have it right. So, if you want to improve your skills with color, for example, you need to isolate each component of color and practice each component separately, get feedback on your progress, and fix your errors. Than move on to the next component. I think this is what Paul’s courses offer–expert guidance on what and how to practice the basics.
Very insightful article and it gives me a sense of peace when people say to loosen up and after reading this I realize I’m not there yet but on track.
My natural style is to paint “loose” and I have been through many phases and stages on that journey. The point is there is a very fine line between “loose” and sloppy and in the first instance my work was sloppy. I had no idea how to convert into loose in fact had no idea how to paint full stop. So, I had to learn how to paint and paint in a tighter more detailed manner. Once I knew how to handle the medium (in my case watercolour) I was then freer to experiment and learn more about the secrets of “loose.” The first thing I realised is that it is not fast and can take just as long as a more “highly finished” piece. There is a lot more time (in my case) planning where to place my marks to aid the composition, where to have my lost, soft and found edges, where I should paint positively and negatively. I now teach how to loosen up in watercolour and agree wholeheartedly that a good drawing is vital even if a good proportion of it is only suggested…things still need to be in the right place, the tonal value needs to be fully explored and as for colour, if the value plan is good then the colour is somewhat secondary though I do teach the use of a limited palette in any particular piece. But by far the most important aspect is practice…..once I started to really practice my work improved…. simple, the more you practice the better you get!! And finally if anyone ever tells me I’m talented, my reply is always the same…..goes something like this…. “It’s funny you should say that, as the more I practice the more talented I get!!”
“And finally if anyone ever tells me I’m talented, my reply is always the same…..goes something like this…. “It’s funny you should say that, as the more I practice the more talented I get!!””
Thanks Judith, you’ve just given me the best comeback phrase – no-one seems to believe me when I say “I didn’t have any artistic talent or skill a few years ago, now I have some level of skill but an in-built talent? Nope, that’s exactly the same…”
Your reply is the perfect answer.
Would just like to say “Bravo” for the two student examples above as well. If they’re not a great advert for Paul’s course then I don’t know what is…
Thanks Paul,
Encouraging words. I am a tight painter as well. I must develop my drawing skills more and do daily practice drawing with pencils. I will be starting you Mastering Color class soon.
What a wonder ful post! So true!! I love this Richard Schmid quote “Looseness should describe how a painting looks, not how it was done.” so glad we’re all moving awa y from the ‘happy accidents’ !
I really enjoyed this read. In my personal experience, today’s art world puts a higher emphasis on conceptual ideas and even social connections, as opposed to skills, and it’s nice to see a more conservative voice chiming in to the discussion.
Thank you for this! Well stated.
Somewhat related to this and to the earlier discussion about color.
“The general effect of beauty of colors in nature may be lost in painfully literal imitation; it may be maintained by recreating a parallel spectrum of colors, but of necessity not precisely, or by no means the same, as the original.” Vincent Van Gogh (in a letter to his brother)
A fascinating post, Paul, thank you for putting it together in such a succinct way. I agree wholeheartedly, as one who longs to paint more loosely. I start my paintings determined to paint ‘looser’ and they invariably end up more careful than I’d hoped and planned for. But I also enjoyed the process of painting them and learned a lot, and I feel like I have to somehow get the detail out of my system until I feel free to paint looser.
One other thing, I see learning to paint courses where the description says you don’t need to be able to draw to paint. I disagree. I think it’s fundamental. And painting is drawing with a brush, and so often won’t look ‘right’ if we haven’t put enough time in at the coal face of learning to observe.
Paul, I couldn’t agree with you more. I have always admired great paintings that look quite abstract up close and look very realistic from 10 or 20 paces back. Each brushstroke absolutely meaningful and done with great economy. This is an ideal that I am striving for. It’s not easy and it takes a lot of hard work. Amazing, the number of master painters who start off “tight” early in their careers and then later on enjoy the freedom of their acquired excellence later in their careers.
I just happened to read Alla Prima II by Richard Schmid…..he said the same thing you do, but added being careful of edges. Drawing has to be fine, value and edges. He is heavy on
painting plein air as you see more color and atmosphere.
When I was a professional ballet dancer, our ballet master always said “Learn the technique so you can forget the technique.” Same thing, different discipline and very well explained!
PAUL, your instructions and advices are ever eye openers. I so so wished that I could paint “loosely” with a flair, but i knew it would not b easy. You just showed me just how much effort I need to put in to get there. That Im not a gonner, that i can get there, only the road is much longer than i thought! Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for this post! Great read!! I’ve been told I paint loosely at times, but it’s inconsistent, it feels like a hit or miss, and I think I would more appropriately say I paint messy, especially with my current level in foundations for drawing and value discerning. This gives me a good reaffirmation on what I should work on, and to not fret about being stiff for the time being. Who cares for now!!
I couldn’t agree more… funnily enough I arrived at this insight only recently myself after realising that my dream of being able to paint loose still life (like the beautiful little pieces that Carol Marine creates) just wasn’t going to come true… most of my attempts were just dire. I decided to forget about it and focus on what I really like to paint. Now it’s all fun again 🙂
One day, when my painting skills have improved, I’ll be able to develop in towards loose. But for now, it’s fulfilling to focus on drawing, colour, value, etc. and end up with a painting that works and that I would be happy to hang on my wall.
Thank you Paul for being so generous with your knowledge and also for explaining everything so well.
Yes Elli, get those basics established well and you’ll be able to paint in any way you choose.
I think a lot of the strength of Carol’s work lies in her design and colour, more than her actual paint application. But her drawing and values are also very good, which is why it all hangs together so well 🙂
Thank you, Paul. Your explanation about what it takes to paint loose makes sense and really gives me a feeling of relief and takes away a lot of stress.
I Love is very close-up flower photography, usually focusing on just one flower, especially all the fascinating detail in the center stamens. Now I want to make freer more lively flower paintings, but am struggling with giving up those fascinating center details.
The solution for me might be, learning more about learning more about blending color and form, and finding flowers with more flowing, unusual forms.
Hi Paul, I just wanted to thank you, iv struggled for years to try and paint loosely and it’s so obvious… now you’ve explained it why I struggle so much. Thank you.
That’s brilliant to hear Em, thank you!
I so agree with Paul. I was surfing through he internet to find some thoughts on this topic and am very happy to have come across it! There is a trend to be loose nowadays (on the brink of just letting things happen). Even today, good artists who do produce looseness in their work have gone through a long journey: they have excellent drawing and painting skills and started tight to be able to achieve what they do today. I have a rather tight style today but beginning to loosen up at times. Reading Paul’s article and the comments has made me feel better and I can continue my journey without being guilty of being tight. Yes, and of course there is beauty in detailed work as well: get the ‘drawing’ and values right first.
Thanks for excellent article, which is very well complemented by insightful comments from others. The desire to be ‘loose’ seems to be widespread. For me, good to reflect on why I want to be loose, and also recognise the need for practice. For me, being ‘tight’ seems to produce somewhat twee childlike paintings. But that probably reflects where I’m at in my art experience (two years).
Painting something upside down has many benefits besides painting more loosely so I’m not sure why you’re snubbing your nose at it. Pretty pretentious article really.