Painting bigger is one of my goals for this year and I’ve been experimenting a lot in the past several months - playing with materials, compositions and shapes.
What I learned is that it’s definitely not as easy as it seems! It’s not just “painting bigger”, but it’s adjusting the techniques, adopting new working methods, trying different movements and tools - all that to create a successful composition.
If you’re curious about trying to create larger paintings, here are a few prompts that can help you to get started:
Start exploring larger compositions on paper - it’s cheaper and not such a strong commitment as working on canvas or a wooden board (although you can always paint on top go those, but paper is still cheaper).
Use a grid to transfer a composition from a sketch or photo, tracing & projectors are also great.
Practice moving your whole arm when painting, it’ll help you to train yourself for creating larger shapes and lines.
Use larger tools, more paints and apply broader strokes! May sound obvious, but this is really important when you want to create larger paintings.
Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t and make notes. Not all compositions that work on small scale will work on bigger surfaces and you will need to adjust things. With practice you will get a better understanding of how to create successful compositions.
I hope these prompts inspired you to try working big! Don’t focus on the outcomes, focus on the process and enjoy the freedom of creating with broader strokes and on a larger surface.
Also, remember - there is no one way of “going big” - you can paint larger shapes to fit onto a larger surface, cover the whole surface with small shapes, paint a cropped view of an object and so on. The possibilities are unlimited!
Thank you for reading and being here! Feel free to share these prompts with a creative friend. I’ll be happy to hear from you in the comments! Do you paint big? What would be your tips?
Until next time!
Lisa
Those are very useful tips. I usually paint on A5 paper and every time I move to a bigger canvas I feel my brain rewiring. But there is something so satisfying about bigger pieces.