2 Phases to Learning a New Medium with John MacDonald
You may be hoping for love at first sight with a new medium. But John MacDonald (Ep.92) says you have to go through two important phases before you’ll know.
First is Phase 1.
In Phase 1 you learn how the medium works in general. These are things you’d need to learn about any new medium you’re trying.
For example: How do your brushes work with the medium? How does the paint physically handle? How much water or oil do you need to add to get paint to flow like you want? How do these particular paints interact with the surface you paint on?
Once you understand the materials themselves, then you can get to Phase 2.
In Phase 2, you begin to understand the strengths and weaknesses of that specific medium. And it’s only in Phase 2, says MacDonald, where you can really understand if the medium is actually a good fit for you.
Put it to Practice:
When you're first getting started with a new medium, you’re going to experience frustration. When that happens, you might want to blame the medium itself as the problem.
Your instincts may tell you to switch to a different medium. After all, maybe a different medium would be less frustrating.
But the new medium is going to follow the same patterns of frustration. Because until you pass through Phase 1 of ANY medium, you’re going to experience Phase 1 frustration.
It’s only after you push through those Phase 1 frustrations and get familiar with a medium will you begin to feel less frustration and be able to assess the medium to see if it’s a good fit for you.
So the next time you’re working with a new medium and hit frustration, ask yourself, “Which Phase am I in?”
Because if the answer is Phase 1, I encourage you to keep with it. Don’t switch to a new medium yet. Push through this frustration to really learn your materials. Then (and most likely only then) will you really be able to tell if this medium (brush, paper, etc) is right for you.