Paint Like Miles Davis played Jazz

Many artists possess the extraordinary skill to paint photorealistically, rendering every detail—even a single eyelash on a model painted from life in the studio. Yet many painters with that level of ability choose not to work that way because they are more interested in communicating mood and feeling than in demonstrating technical virtuosity.

The analogy I like to use is the album Kind of Blue, featuring jazz musicians Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and other top-tier performers. Any one of these musicians could have dazzled listeners with the speed of their fingers and the power of their technique. Instead, the album is subdued, smooth, and unhurried, moving with a steady groove. The performers felt no need to impress listeners with the full scope of their capabilities. Throughout the album, they ease into simple tunes with mastery rather than flash and flair. And this has made it one of the greatest jazz albums of all time.

All of us painters can learn from this. The paintings I am presenting in this Weekly Art Beat do not display the full range of the artists' technical capabilities. Many of them are quiet and simply rendered, but that restraint allows the message, metaphor, or emotional statement to come through more vividly.