Author: Pierre Labeau, Contributing Editor

Hello, It's me again with another "quick tip". I like to think of artists as people who carry around "suitcases of knowledge". Every time you learn a new little piece of information you toss it into your "suitcase" ready to reach in and pull out a piece when you find the need. Add this little snippet to your suitcase.

Sometimes special effects are desired; water splashing, a wave breaking, or a flame flickering. A stop action photograph can be very useful but it has one disadvantage. It does not show the action before or after the photo was taken.

If at all possible, go to the source. Observe the action that takes place before the wave breaks, study the flame of a candle, drip water into a bowl. By doing this you will be able to bring your painting some of the "feel" of what you have seen.

The illustration of the burning match takes us through the action from the unlighted match to the burnt finish. It was necessary to light match after match in order to learn what really takes place.

By continued observation of any kinetic action we can learn to "see" and remember what we have seen. Many times we think we know what something looks like, only to find when we compare our drawing to the real thing, we don't know at all.