See Like an Artist

What does it actually mean to see like an artist? It's not about noticing more detail, surprisingly! It's actually about learning to unsee it.

In this video, I paint a rose from the Huntington Gardens and walk through the exact process I use to translate a subject into shapes, values, and edges instead of "petals, leaves, and stem.

As the French poet Paul Valéry said: "To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees." This video is about putting that into practice and how trusting your shapes and values (not the details) is what makes a painting actually work. If you've ever frozen up staring at a complex subject, not knowing where to start, this process is for you.