FIGURE IT OUT

1. NEGATIVE SPACE

Inma Garcia-Carrasco: “If there is one tool that gets overlooked, it is the use of negative space as a compositional element.

“Look at the abstract shapes of negative spaces and concentrate on representing those, rather than the positive ones.

“Like a puzzle that comes together, you will see how the addition of those negative shapes means that the entire painting becomes the subject to be represented.”

2. PAINT REMOVAL

James Bland: “Periodically scrape back the paint on your canvas. I use a palette knife for this, and sometimes my fingers or a cotton rag.

“Doing this has many benefits. For one thing, it cuts down on unintended wet-in-wet mixing, which is especially problematic