Paint in your own style.

The technical rules of painting interest me little. Rules and techniques, and the correct way to compose a painting, are good guides to get you on the road, but when you get on the road you must travel in the way you wish. Get off the road, stay on it, or stay near it, it’s up to you.

If Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Morrisot, or Pissarro had followed established rules and techniques for painting, we would not have their great works today. Just as rules and techniques were earlier established for classical painting, since their days, there has developed a school of rules and techniques to learn and follow in order to paint like they did. Cezanne said that if another painter tried to paint just like he did, then that painter did not understand what he was trying to achieve. I take this to mean that you have to paint in your own style, you must have your own way to express your feelings and what it is you are trying to accomplish. If no one cares for your paintings, so what. Do not paint to please others. If others see your work for it is, they may like it. But if you paint to please others, you are lost. There are, however, some realities that must be acknowledged. An artist has to earn a living. Accordingly, some artists paint to please others in order to live and pursue their work. I have read that in the late nineteenth century some painters turned to portraiture in order to earn money to sustain themselves. They needed the money, but for many their hearts were not in it. This conundrum of painting as you want to and the need for money is a matter artists must resolve for themselves. There is no good answer.

Another issue that arises as a painter gets on the road is that their teachers and mentors tend to push them to paint just like they do. It may not be intentional, nevertheless it may stifle one’s independent style. It has been said that “instead of copying the touches of the great masters, copy only their conceptions. Instead of treading in their footsteps, endeavor only to keep the same road.” Corot said, “Do not imitate; do not follow others - you will always be behind.” “Whoever your favorite master might be, he should only be an orientation for you, The advice, the method of another, should not make you change your own way of feeling.” Cezanne. A Century of Cezanne Criticism, pg. 42.

So, the word is, walk on the same road with other artists, teachers, and mentors, but do not follow them.