When new drivers start driving, they need to take a Driver’s Education class which ensures the confidence building providing the driver with the needed experience, safety and navigation for building their skills on the road ahead. This is similar for artists when working on complex ideas for painting or a challenging commissioned piece. Artist’s preliminary studies diminish the apprehension about a prolific piece they may create in the future, and along the way, these studies present spontaneous, surprising and even a stand-alone refreshing outcome the artist relies on in their studio practice.

 “A study” often conjures a more diminutive size drawing or sketch that is in preparation for something larger. The study is preparation, that informs the artists for a rigorous adventure into a more complex, large-scale endeavor. Painting Studies ventures into the various ways artists accomplish this preemptive space. Artists often have no preconceived notions as to how the drawing, painting or mixed mediations will evolve. Many artists use sketches to ensure that the greater scale, investment of materials, time and labor can be helpful to make these adjustments. A study can remain as a piece that stands on its own and can represent on its own.    

The artist’s outcomes celebrated in this liminal space of concept and process evolution all approach things very differently and we celebrate the work of Lawrence Baker, Harriet Moore Ballard, David Louis Cintron, Allison Bogard Hall, James Burnett, Isabel Farnsworth, John Howitt, Michaelle Marschall, Jen Omaitz, LaSaundra Robinson, Bonnie Venable, and Bob Walls .