There is of course but one rule in art:
Don't Stop.

In deed, what makes an artist,
is frequent practice.

That is all,
there is to it,

Even so, what follows is a few thoughts I jotted this evening,
in anticipation of this poem.

An easel, especially a portable one, meant for adventures,
can't be driven to the art destination.

You can't just whip your easel out of the car,
and pop it up in front of some vista.

It is hard to explain,
but you have to park somewhere far, down the hill.

You can ride a bicycle, or huff an puff some other way,
but you can't use a car to get all the way.

The practice of art,
requires great Dignity and Nobility.

Long before you pounce at art,
take time to learn how and what time of day you can take good photos.

Always take more photos than you will ever need,
you just never know the smiles you can discover in there.

A photo is a magical connection to the subject of your drawing or painting,
instead of bicycling all the way out there again, you can just pull it out of your pocket.

Somewhere on my way to Nordhouse, I had the impossible luck of having come across,
an old Black and White postcard of Mona Lisa.

It was all I needed,
to invent my way towards art.

Searching for color and gradient combinations is a big deal,
you need journals and posters and entire painting dedicated to the exploration.

But take the time to look at history of color as well,
history of oil painting in general.

It is not always a good thing to say that one should only use the most beautiful of colors,
but if you are to replicate colors of your source image perfectly.

As you sit down to your painting,
grab a large full color printout of your subject, place a glass pane over it, and test your colors on the glass.

But also consider painting for the colors sake,
it is such a happy thing to have your breath taken away by a painting with colors from another world.

Trace, trace, trace, copy, and project you images with office projectors,
invent countless ways of transferring shapes with precision to your painting or drawing.

Unless you are a medical student, there is little to be found by first memorizing everything to perfection,
memorize your shapes and their needs by tracing thousands of portraits.

And tell everyone about it, invite them to the world of Art,
make them wonder, and daydream about becoming artists.

Take time to prepare an entire book of tracings,
both for practice and for meditation.

It is so nice to have everything ready, to just sit down and doodle,
while you sip your white mocha.

Finally, just because you are at a beautiful location,
it does not mean that you have to paint what is right there.

One time, I was at the Pinckney Recreation Area, which has a pretty lake,
with a neat woodland horizon.

I remember being lost in my thoughts as I've noticed,
that they have recently installed Bear proof garbage cans.

It just blew my mind, that somewhere out there could be a bear,
eyeing me for a beefy succulent treat.

And for the hell in me, I just couldn't open any for those cans,
no matter how many times I read the instructions.

Before I could stop myself,
from pondering if perhaps I was the bear.

I've noticed a mother and child waddling my way,
in a way that bespoke "C'mon lets see his painting."

Normally this would be strange, as from where they were standing,
one could assume that they were closer to the scene that I was painting than I was.

However, this time,
I went to the lake for the purpose of not painting the lake.

Before I knew it, the mother was behind me, heavily breathing on my neck,
and intently staring at my painting, with a grimace.

The child was still huffing and puffing up the hill,
and she slid down there, to get him.

And I could hear her saying, that it was not the lake,
that it is an "Inebriated Dog".

Which it was - I was painting Brian Griffin the white drunk intellectual Labrador that speaks English,
in Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy.

I haven't sat down a TV in 20 years, I don't think I ever watched a full episode,
but I figured I should paint the Dog, because it seemed smart.

And that is my final piece of advice,
it is good to have rules, because Art rules are meant to be broken.