The First Brush Stroke – by Scott Umstattd
I remember talking to Toller about an artist’s intention behind the first brush stroke of a new painting. He told me that sometimes the artist waits for the canvas to express what it wants and so the intention behind the first stroke is like “Let’s get started. Put something down and see where it goes.”
Other times, the intention behind the first brush stroke is calculated and it’s more like “I know what I want from this painting and this is the first of many strokes I will make to get me there.” Toller said that it doesn’t matter how you get that first stroke on the canvas. Either way, you are painting and that’s what you want to be doing.
