Fewer Strokes

The best paintings are often created with the fewest brush strokes. Anyone can make a fairly comprehensive and convincing painting if they dab at it long enough with a tiny brush. The trick is to create the same result using only a few strokes. It's often not an easy task as it takes forethought and conviction. The result will be more powerful, the statement stronger, the conviction more apparent, and the beauty will be seen more clearly with this economy of means. However, it is not an easy task to accomplish and I often find myself picking at a painting with details to try and dig my way out of a painting situation that would have been much better corrected by building a stronger foundation to start with.