Leaning Into the Painting Process

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Let intuition—along with form, texture, and pattern—drive the painting process.

By Jan Ledbetter

My travels to Guatemala and Mexico over the past two decades have profoundly impacted my art-making. To best record my impressions of Maya women, I’ve developed a mixed-media approach that integrates repetitions of form, texture, and pattern. My principal goal in painting is to explore these complex interactions. While the figure is my central design element, each painting evolves using abstract motifs, personal symbols, and imagination.

Although my academic background centered on oil painting, I discovered I could be more expressive and have a stronger dialogue with my artwork by using watercolor and acrylic. I construct and deconstruct each painting by developing a dynamic design; creating interesting shapes; inventing strong dark/light patterns; and discovering solutions to problem areas. By focusing on the actual painting process, I find that I work intuitively, traveling on a journey of unknown discoveries.

Developing a Dynamic Design

Sketching the Scene: While on location, I sketch ink drawings that provide a wealth of subject matter and design ideas for my paintings.

Priming the Surface: I prime my paper with a mixture of acrylic gesso and acrylic gloss medium (2/3 gesso: 1/3 medium, or 1/2 gesso: 1/2 medium, depending on the brands.) This combination provides a slick, textured surface conducive to the easy removal of paint.

Underpainting: I mist the gessoed paper with water. Using random brushstrokes, I apply transparent, non-staining, mid-value watercolor over the surface. I’m focused on creating an abstract value pattern and random color base on which to build the painting

Creating Interesting Shapes

Drawing: Using either a pointed brush with thinned paint or a watercolor crayon, I draw and redraw loose, expressive contour lines of the figures. These animated lines will enhance the completed artwork.

Applying Paint: Using a large, flat bush loaded with transparent, non-staining watercolor paint, I build a light-dark pattern of shapes on the figures and textiles. Line, value, or color changes separate the figures from the background.

Building the Background: I develop the background using large shapes and strong values that contrast with the smaller fragmented shapes and mid-values of the textiles. As I begin lifting out abstract shapes in the background, subject matter begins to emerge—often flowers, leaves, or more figures.

Next, I use a small, pointed brush to negative paint behind the lifted lights to embellish and add details. I quickly move through the artwork to construct and deconstruct, and draw and redraw lines, play, explore, and adjust. I usually add opaque acrylic or tinted white gesso to the background behind the figures.

Inventing Strong Patterns

I’m always looking to design contrasting areas of dark/light, dull/bright, busy/quiet, and transparent/opaque throughout the painting. Next, I add transition edges between shapes. Each of these dichotomies helps to move the viewer’s eye through the painting thanks to line, color, or value accents. 

Resolving Problem Areas

If I’m not happy with the outcome of a painting, I may turn to one of the following techniques to achieve a more satisfactory resolution: