Quality...or Quantity?

About that proverbial mile of canvas.

A stereoscopic photograph of a linen mill. This is how your miles of canvas are made.

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[I’ve just gotten back to my winter studio in New Mexico, where I’m in the process of getting it ready for a series of exciting video demonstrations I’ll share with you in the coming weeks! Stay tuned!]

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The old saying goes, It takes a mile of canvas to make a good painter. (Or something like that.) The idea being that, without significant practice, you won't improve your skill set. Whether a mile of canvas will do it or not is open to debate. I've known some plein air painters who, over the 25 years I've known them, have not improved as artists; they paint away happily, filling mile after mile of canvas, but to my eye they've never made it to the next level. They know all the "rules," they've taken plenty of workshops, and they practice constantly.

So what's wrong? Why haven't they made the leap from quantity to quality—and how can you do it?