How This SIMPLE Rule Can Help You Stop Overworking and Improve Your Paintings

You might be overworking and ruining your paintings by actually trying to make them better. What is overworking, you might ask, and how can it have a negative impact ? Simply speaking: overworking means using too many brush strokes. Let’s take the example of Laurie on Patreon who asked me about this, she asked : “Is there a way to avoid overworking? And how to correct an overworked area?”. To use her own words, overworking is when she thinks What “If I just add this…” but as she said, “the new strokes make the area look worse, not better. So then I add more paint to correct the bad strokes, hoping to make the area good again. It ends up with too much paint- a mess with no definition.”
You get the point, overworking is a bad habit that makes your hand itchy for more brush strokes, it can happen when you feel unsatisfied or even, like Laurie, when you feel happy with your work and want to be too much of a perfectionist.
Link the the previous video I mentioned:
• I STOPPED Doing THIS a...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:06 What's the problem ?
02:10 The "No More Than 3 Rule"
05:08 It works for blending
07:23 No more than 3 layers
09:22 How to fix an overworked area
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About me (bio) :
Website :
www.florentfarges.com
I am an artist living and working in France. I learned the techniques of the Atelier of the Nineteenth century and now I try to share some of my knowledge with the rest of the world, because I think that beauty still has an important role to play in artistic creation. I do mostly drawing and oil painting, and my goal is always to provide techniques, thoughts and explanations that can be useful to anyone, from beginners to more advanced artists.
The material I use most of the time (not necessarily in this video) :
Drawing
✓ Kneaded eraser
✓ Plumb line (DIY)
✓ Small mirror
✓ An old synthetic brush
✓ Masking tape
✓ Cutter
✓ Sandpaper or sanding block
✓ Mahlstick or Hand rest (DIY)
✓ Level ruler
Graphite
✓ Pencils 2H, HB and 2B
Charcoal
✓ If available: Nitram charcoals (H, HB and B)
✓ Square charcoals
Black and white chalk
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
✓ Square Conté noir : HB and 2B
✓ Chalk or pencil holder
✓ Pencil sketch Conté Pierre noire : H and HB
Sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté : Blood and blood Medici
✓ Crayon Polychromos Faber-Castel : sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
Oil painting
Palette
(Extra-fine paint, recommended brands depending on availability: Sennelier, Lefranc Bourgeois, Winsor and Newton, Royal Talens Rembrandt, Blockx, Michael Harding, Gamblin)
✓ Titanium White PW6
✓ Flake White (or substitute) PW1
✓ Cadmium Yellow light (or "lemon") PY35
✓ Yellow Ochre PY42
✓ Raw Umber PBr7
✓ Transparent Red Oxyde PR101
✓ Burnt Umber PBr7
✓ Venetian Red PR101
✓ Pyrrole Red PR255
✓ Quinacridone Rose PV19
✓ Quinacridone Magenta PV19
✓ Ultramarine Blue PB29
✓ Mars Black PBk11
✓ Cobalt Teal Blue (turquoise light) PG50
✓ Phthalo green warm PG36
Brushes
✓ Filbert hog bristle and Synthetic sizes n° 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12
✓ Flat Synthetic brushes (same size)
✓ Round sable brush or round Kolinsky sable n° 4, 8, 10, 12 (from the size of the nail (about one inch) or synthetic imitation
Medium
✓ Linseed stand oil
✓ Odorless mineral spirits
✓ Or Alkyd medium (Liquin, Galkyd, Flow'n'Dry etc.)
✓ Safflower oil
Surface
✓ Linen canvas, fine grain universal coating
✓ For studies : Canson oil-acrylic oil paper Figueras
Others
✓ Palette
✓ Sponge and spalter brushes
✓ Palette knife in the shape of a water drop, no souldering
✓ A few small pots, containers, jars...
✓ Paper towels
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#art #painting #inspiration
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Thanks for watching !

[@justinalexander7512]

Very nice video! The killer thing about this channel that no one else has is that you have the close up shots of the paint being worked in high definition. It looks so beautiful.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks, glad you like these shots, they're not always easy to make.

[@giancarlozavattinart9898]

Florentine you need to open your atelier for students . Your way of teaching and explaining , gives such a serenity and positive vibes! You’re the ideal teacher everybody wants !!

[@ritavaselli2279]

I don't paint with oil but your videos are very full of advices that could be inspiring for painting in watermedia yet. Avoid overworking is very important with watercolors yet. Thank you for your great videos about painting, not strictly for oil painters but helpful to focuse the painting action itself.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Hey everyone, to help this video get recommended and help the channel, remember to leave a thumbs up, comment and subscribe if it's not already done ! You can also check out my courses and Patreon, support is greatly appreciated. As always, joy and inspiration to you my friends ✨✨✨✨✨✨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨

[@dagoelius]

Spending some sessions just using a palette knife also helps in this area. Not only teaches the discipline of economizing your brush strokes but also helps loosen up your brushwork as well.

[@timblighton6216]

After hearing about over working for a year, this video offers a clean explanation with a beginner’s solution to aid in our development in learning our mediums. Thank you kindly!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Glad you like my work, thanks for watching.

[@stephaniebelenets2666]

When learning to paint it is also valuable to learn what not to do and what to leave out. I can only describe it as a feeling I learned to recognize through experience. When/if I find myself overworking something in a painting it usually means I have lost my clear vision or focus and should probably step away before I mess it up worse. That's a good time to do something else for a while, like clean the studio, and come back to it fresh. Good guidelines and sometimes you just can't "fix" it and have to try again which is not necessarily a bad thing.

[@VetsrisAuguste]

3 is the ideal number for so many things. Delicate footwork in ballet is almost always based in units of three. Triplets and triple meter in music facilitate flow, while triads establish the tonal structure. Division and of three and groupings of three are everywhere in the geometry of our architecture. There are three primary colors and three dimensions. It only makes sense that the visual arts in practice would also rely heavily on the rhythmic pattern of 3.

[@avradeepsamanta1567]

Thankyou sir, for making informative conents for us

[@FlorentFargesarts]

So welcome !

[@ritaputatunda]

This is such good advice.. and I am guilty of always overworking, and you are right, it does mean lack of confidence.. thank you for sharing your knowledge, and of course I have subscribed, looking forward to more such informative videos..

[@lcarolc03]

Thank you So Much!!! I’m going to try your Rule of 3 - strokes , blending , layers. I hope i can transfer this plan to oil pastel. It’s very easy to get things muddy or flat - especially with Sennelier oil pastel - very oily 😮

[@nikkiswenson54]

I always respect your advise, Florent! Such a good video and helping so many of us advance a little at a time!

[@huntsail3727]

Enjoyed this, great job!

[@michelgintrac7572]

Merci beaucoup tu rappelle le temp ou j'apprenais à peindre il y a très longtemps de celà. Michel Brisbane Australie.

[@jetsonjoe]

thank you for taking the time to clearly explain and guide best practices...and showing examples...Helpful to keep process fresh and efficient...I have a tendency to succumb to perfection and never fully finish...I am working on the preliminary layers, drawing to resolve these issues and then on to the painting. I am not sure the benefits of pattern but will check it out. Thanks

[@johnpalgrave9331]

What a great teacher.

[@lindsayjonkers8159]

Good video as always! I'm working on a painting right now that's taken 10 layers lol. I'm going to try the 3 layer rule next :)

[@FreedomEscapismASMR]

❤️🎨🖌️ really useful advice. Thank you ✍️

[@wolfgangtoeglhofer1710]

excellent tutorial again

[@debruneau01]

Lacking art confidence, yes.. that is my problem (& I know where it comes from.. 1 art teacher decades ago) I wish I had an art teacher like YOU back in my early days, thank you!

[@brendadevlin5588]

Very helpful advice. I write down the bullet points from your videos and stick them up on my “studio” wall to help me remember! 🙂

[@andrewbraun6749]

Marvelous video as always Florent, you always have something insightful to offer. I wonder if you would ever consider exploring how you produce models for original compositions; your original paintings are fascinating and highly dynamic. I’d love to know how you manage that. Regardless, thank you for sharing your knowledge. All the best. 🙏

[@gunnarg8074]

u are a genius! thank you for all your videos

[@tumblingrosesstudio]

Oscar - level video! Great advice, too!Thx!

[@thepracticingartist]

Thank you for this. I’ve done this in watercolor and have stopped. But oil is a challenge for me to stop. Discipline needed lol

[@reneecailloux2573]

Always wonderful to listen to your advices. You simplify everything. Thanks!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you so much, Renée 🙏😊✨

[@SimplicityForGood]

Is art just an abstract chaos of trying to sort out our mind and the process goes on and on as long as we suffer from not finding peace in the dull life and the stillness of our minds?

[@ArtByHazel]

Oh, thank you. I do notice myself overworking my artwork.

[@yaredgetachew6427]

Thanks bro what u did for us,let me ask u 1:3 ratio or 25% middle tone how can we use it

[@erraticeve777]

What if the layers are extremely thin and I used gesso before applying two more layers and I have another over worked area? I’m doing a portrait and I’m so used to blending makeup, where I met my artistic drive. On this portrait, I mistakenly used water to make the acrylic paint like watercolor to fall in the canvas teeth better. Until I discovered paint retarder and gesso! So do you have any advice on how to save this? Like another layer of gesso or something?

[@AbdulAziz-cj4hg]

Hi, im trying to get a big part of my painting flat cobalt blue, im using liquitex acrylic cobalt blue which i think is a scam because it is not opaque and it uses toomany PB29 pigment (ultramarine), idk what will happen if i keep adding up layer on semi transparent paint. How do i fix this, bcs i might overwork the color and the border between the darker side and light side would probably become even darker. Does the paint will eventually stop going darker if its already thick layered?

[@RonSwansonIsMyGod]

It's not that more is better. It's not that less is better. The key is that PRECISE is BEST.

[@fishypaw]

"No more than 30-ish layers" ... Leonardo painting the Mona Lisa. 3 is good advice, generally, but there are always exceptions, of course.

[@Richardwright-we6rv]

I've learned over the years that over working comes from not planning enough, "use your brain more than your brush"

[@trahapace150]

My oil painting teacher use to call it licking the canvas

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Nice one, never heard this one but it makes sense !

[@RapidBlindfolds]

god, I've overpainted one section about 10 times 😅

[@FlorentFargesarts]

It’s not always bad... as long as each new paint stroke doesn’t make the thing worse. Otherwise, think of my simple rule next time

[@RapidBlindfolds]

@@FlorentFargesarts yes will do, glad you uploaded this video at the same time as I ran into this problem! thanks for sharing your wisdom once again

[@SimplicityForGood]

Why is your hair turquoise and silver in this video?

[@israeldiegoriveragenius2th164]

Absolute nonsense, the greatest painters constantly repainted parts of their paintings. Beware of KZbin painters who paint from photos.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Not much to do with what I said but alright... 🤔

[@ninja_tony]

There are so many things wrong with this comment, I don't even know where to start.

[@Ane_artdesigns]

Would like to know if would work to try your course even my medium is acrylic? I have no oil mediums whatsoever at the moment. Will I get the same learning experience? Please advise @florent Farges

[@WHEREVER-I-ROAM]

YOU have a TWIN on KZbin TEACHING GUITAR , ALMOST SAME VOICE ACCENT ALMOST SAME FACE