I’ve tried to portray what you would see if you were there.  Roy is the one on the left.  You should notice that most of the scene is painted very dark, almost black.  All you see of the person in the middle is his head and arm.  The man on the right has a face but no hair.  You didn’t realize that because your mind put the missing parts in.  It is actually all you would see.

When painting, try to portray things you really see, not what your mind says is there and your image will be more believable and pleasing.

Some things to notice: The areas in shadow on the side of the boat are painted a bluish shade.  Look at the top at smokestacks and other areas.  Where the sunlight hits it is painted white, even with a tiny touch of yellow but the shadow side is blue.  Notice how it works.  Also look at the reflections under the boat.  This makes the water “wet.”

The placement of the boat over the bottom edge of the hills gives the impression of distance.

Paintings can evoke emotions and memory. They can bring people back who might have passed on. They will last much longer than a photo.

Here is the well kept secret to my success:

Burn the midnight oil. Take hours and hours of classes. Paint for hours every day, every week, every year. Draw for hours on end. Take endless chances. Get turned down over and over. Have one success for every thirty failures. Be told you’re not very good. Then keep going over, and over, and over, and over. After all that, you’ll just be getting started. Then keep at it . . . and keep going over and over and over and over. Then after several years, you’ll all of a sudden have a little bit of success and people will tell you how lucky you are.

The same is true of artists. Many people complain that they don’t have time to practice painting or drawing. I’ve found that the best thing for me is to always carry a drawing book with me wherever I go.

The past three weeks I’ve spent a lot of time away from home between Ontario and Utah. My drawing book goes with me. When I’m on an airplane, I always grab the magazines and draw the pictures from them. I try to sketch the people sitting next to me. It’s hard on the neck, but it makes good practice. I draw the people who are sitting in waiting rooms or people who are giving speeches.

These are two examples of my recent travels.

The dark table top will reflect the object. This photo shows a goblet. If you squint at it, you’ll see white lines. Paint the lines just as you see them. Notice the stem of the glass reflects underneath the base. You’ll paint the dark tone all the way around the goblet, then inside of it where it is the same value. There are some areas with lighter value. Put them where you see them.

The apple and the figurine both have white highlights. Put them in first so you’ll know where they go. Then draw the shapes of the different values you see in both items, painting them in later with the correct colors and values.

What will really make the painting “SING” will be how you handle the reflections underneath them. The values of the reflections are not as bright. The left edge of the apple reflection is dark, so it gradually goes from very dark and almost unknown to the faint red color.

Try this technique. You’ll love it!

Tonight, though, I decided it was time for just me. I grabbed a fresh canvas, set up a quick still life and lit it with a lamp, then relaxed for an hour. I just wanted to enjoy myself.

This is what I came up with. My technique is to separate everything by shapes and values first, painting them separately. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. In this painting you’ll also see reflections of the apples in the pot, as well as highlights. The pot looks metal, but when I was painting it you would have thought I was just painting stripes. See, it works! And I even had fun!

This is a value study from one of my earliest college art classes. We were to find a picture in a magazine then paint the same picture, but we were to use different colors but paint them in the same values they were originally in. For those who don’t know what that means, the value of a color is basically how light or dark the color is. The true test to see if we had done the painting correctly was when the instructor took a black and white photograph. If it looked right, we had done the values correctly. Mine succeeded.

I did this painting one day when I was stressed. I put flowers in this mason jar on a table, then set a pair of scissors by it. I needed to get my mind off of things. I never gave the painting much thought.

My first gallery show in Indianapolis was to be a week later. I included my best art. My wife wanted me to put this one in as well. I didn’t want to because I thought it was mediocre but she insisted. It was the first piece that sold. It just goes to show that what you might think is insignificant might be the best you have — and that the woman by your side probably knows a lot more than you do.

This is an actual e-mail I received this week. I had been trying to find a new gallery to represent me. Almost all galleries in Indiana are interested only in paintings of barns and trees. It has really bothered me in the past. That is one reason I have gone out of state to places like Detroit and Milwaukee. Recently, I have made peace with myself. I know I must be true to myself and paint what I like, and do it in my style.

This painting is REALLY a Tom Slack piece. I’m not trying to be like every other artist in Indiana — I’m just letting it flow. I love doing buildings. I adore linear and atmospheric perspective. To me, a great painting has a lot of contrast in values. Putting a person in it gives it relevance. I hope you love this painting as much as I do. I just finished it fifteen minutes ago.

By the way, I’m still interested in a new gallery . . . any takers?