[At left: Untitled work by Robert Rauschenberg, 1963]

About a week ago, I bought a copy of A Painter’s Guide to Design and Composition: 27 Masters Reveal Their Secrets, after skimming it at the art supply store. It’s already making a huge difference in how simple it is to compose my paintings.

The tip that made a difference was to connect at least 80% of the dark areas of the composition. (That’s one of hundreds of useful tips in the book.)

I thought it’d look contrived, but in my two first thumbnail sketches — and some tonal sketching on two of my current canvases — I’m seeing that this works. Amazing. I’m someone who protests anything even vaguely “by the numbers” about painting, but I’ve realized that there’s still a lot more for me to learn… even after all these years.

Also, I spent over an hour at the Menil Collection bookstore. Just browsing the books was incredibly inspiring. They really get modern art. I came home with books about art by Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, and Max Ernst.

Here’s what took me by surprise: When I was telling Todd about the price of books like these, I said, “Good art books are always expensive, but they feed the soul.”

I heard myself say this and I realized how true that is of all art, and especially original art. It affirmed what I’m doing as an artist myself.