Colley Whisson remembers understanding composition, tonal values, and drawing, but edges started to really intrigue him. He had to go back and reassess his own work to see if edges had been something he was neglecting. Like every area in our work, it is great to have the attitude that there is always room for improvement. It is the great beauty in art. You may master one thing and then go to another medium or a completely different subject. 

Colley found that we never want to underestimate any areas in painting. Our edges, and the placement of our visual information, is so important. In certain subjects, you can almost bring it down to just that one edge that is normally in our primary focal area. It is going to override any other shape in the whole painting. We are not too concerned, ultimately, with how little detail or how much detail, but this comes down to that one shape or edge. The great beauty is that if we do follow this, and get it right, we have controlled the scene and what the viewer is going to be looking at.

The one-edge concept comes right back to one of Colley’s favorite sayings: “If you can hold a viewer’s attention for 3 seconds, you’ll have them for a lifetime.” There are times in Colley’s earlier work that didn’t work, but now he understands why certain things didn’t work. In hindsight, it was because Colley did not control that one edge, the primary shape, in his painting. It was like ten voices in the paintings trying to talk to him, not just that one. That is the approach and the concept that Colley has continually tried to implement. You will find that Painters like Soralla or Sargent master that one edge or shape in their work and make it stand out above everything else.

There still needs to be subtlety with it. But, it is also making sure that we get that fluency. Many times, Colley prefers a confident brush mark with a strength of edge and dominance over all of the other edges, shapes, and brushwork. This way, he can drive the viewer to that one area and lock them in. Once you lock them in, you will get them for a long time. 

Want to learn more from Colley? Join him below!

Listen to Gabor and Colley on the Paint & Clay Podcast here.