“The practice of art should have an effect not only on the public, but even more importantly, on the artist himself, by enlarging his sphere of freedom. Once this is understood and becomes a profound part of artistic practice, the problem of being a mere manufacturer of expensive objects disappears; pictures are justifiable because they are steps in their maker’s artistic development. Each picture is valuable only insofar as it contributes to this development, because it enables the artist to go on in a freer, larger way to his next picture (my emphasis).”

Scumbling is generally used in the underpainting – literally a full color painting that sits under the next layer where paint is applied stroke by stroke. The underpainting is a layer where one obtains the atmospheric color that bathes everything like “breath on glass.” Thus, the technique allows one to apply paint not in strokes but in patches or veils that overlap.

For those of you who are still wringing your hands over the crazy outcome of the 2016 electoral contests, I thought I would select ten excellent candidates from the world of art that could finally set things straight. Below are the candidates with strength and weakness listed for you. Just be sure to squint, vote, and start over as often as you like.