Holiday Greetings

To all my friends in the arts, both near and far: may this holiday season and the new year bring you health, happiness and new creative directions. May your brushes stay wet and all of your efforts be positive.

Best Wishes - Tom

ps. Rudolph stopped by and says, "Hi"!

Cropping?

As a student, I was told never to crop. Reason given: a strong artist knows how to design and cropping is a sign of weakness. It reduces the value of the painting. I choose to blow off this expert advice and crop whenever it will make a better painting.

What's "cropping"? It's the process of cutting down a painting's dimensions by reducing the horizontal or vertical sides or both. I've even converted a vertical painting into a horizontal and found more than one successful small painting in an unresolved large one.

I've had a fair amount of success cropping. The photos show how I use mat corners to find potential crops. I often find new takes on a successful painting that I wouldn't crop, but would start a new painting based on this technique.

As far as a reduction in value, I just don't believe it. Your job as an artist is to produce the best image possible. If the cropped version looks stronger, go for it!