I often work with constraints in my art practice as a way of getting new ideas, warming up, or painting when I don’t feel like it. Using an exercise of limitation and constraints can make you a better painter!

Limiting your tools, colour palette, size, and the amount of time to create your painting can have beneficial results. It forces us to push our boundaries and make every mark or stroke count. It can be a way to experiment with a certain brush or tool and really get to know what it can do. Or trying new colour combinations or techniques.

Here is a constraint exercise that I often use for myself and in my workshops.

1. 2 colours plus black and white

2. 2 mark-making media: eg pastel, Stabilo, graphite, charcoal

3. 2 tools - eg. brush and scraper

4. I pattern - eg, collage, stencil, or stamp (if using collage glue will be needed as well.

I invite you to do a quick study series whether abstract or representational of 4 - 6 small pieces. You can work on them simultaneously or one at a time. Give your self a time limit of 5 or 10 minutes each. This will keep you from overthinking!

My Constraint Exercise

In this I used two colours that I don’t normally use in my work - naples yellow and burnt sienna. I used a small worn out brush for the black marks, a silicone colour shaper brush, one type of collage, charcoal and graphite for mark making. I spent 5 minutes per painting. They are 8x8” I did not mix any colours and used the white of the paper for my light value.