--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A painter knows what to do by the tug of…" description: "\"A painter knows what to do by the tug of the brush as it pulls through a mixture of oils, and by the look of coloured slurries on the palette.\" — James..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2e/james-elkins-19808_brushes_a-painter-knows-what-to-do-by-the-tug-of_2164891.jpg" --- # A painter knows what to do by the tug of the brush as it… ![“A painter knows what to do by the tug of the brush as it pulls through a mixture of oils, and by the look of coloured slurries on the palette.” quote by James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2e/james-elkins-19808_brushes_a-painter-knows-what-to-do-by-the-tug-of_2164891.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2e/james-elkins-19808_brushes_a-painter-knows-what-to-do-by-the-tug-of_2164891.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2e/james-elkins-19808_brushes_a-painter-knows-what-to-do-by-the-tug-of_2164891.jpg) > “A painter knows what to do by the tug of the brush as it pulls through a mixture of oils, and by the look of coloured slurries on the palette.” [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. An artist follows the instinctive pull of the brush and the visual cues on the palette to decide what to create **In simple terms:** Artists rely on tactile and visual feedback to guide their work Key Takeaway Trust your senses in creative decisions Themes intuition process visuality Mood contemplative analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - painting - design - creative brainstorming Key Concepts embodiment aesthetic judgment Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance instinct with technique? - What role does visual feedback play in decision making? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on intuition may ignore critical analysis ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Brush Pulls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brush-pulls-4609834/) [Brushes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brushes/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [Methodology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/methodology/) [Mixtures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mixtures/) [Oil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oil/) [Oils Look](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oils-look-4609835/) [Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painter/) [Painter Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painter-knows-2428757/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Palette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/palette/) [Slurries Palette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slurries-palette-4609832/) ## Related quotes > [There does not exist a painter who knows himself or knows what he is doing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/there-does-not-exist-a-painter-who-knows-himself-or-knows-what-he-is/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [Anyone who tries to make a living as a painter knows you can't lounge about waiting for inspiration to hit; nothing motivates like keeping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nita-engle/anyone-who-tries-to-make-a-living-as-a-painter-knows-you-can-t-lounge/) [Nita Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nita-engle/) > [A painter knows how to paint, but an artist knows when to stop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jae-hill/a-painter-knows-how-to-paint-but-an-artist-knows-when-to-stop/) [Jae Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jae-hill/) > [I am a slave to the rhythm. 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Art criticism has long been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/perhaps-art-criticism-cannot-be-reformed-in-a-logical-sense-because/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [Modern paintings often seem to have been made quickly, by comparison with the paintings of earlier centuries, and that seems to give us the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/modern-paintings-often-seem-to-have-been-made-quickly-by-comparison/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [Paint records the most delicate gesture and the most tense. It tells whether the painter sat or stood or crouched in front of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/paint-records-the-most-delicate-gesture-and-the-most-tense-it-tells/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [A few moments before the sun sets, the dark Earth shadow begins to rise in the east... 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Paint is like the numerologist's numbers, always counting but never adding up, always speaking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/it-is-the-fertile-hallucination-that-makes-paint-so-compelling-paint/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [Painting is a fine art: not merely because it gives us trees and faces and lovely things to see, but because paint is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/painting-is-a-fine-art-not-merely-because-it-gives-us-trees-and-faces/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [Substances are like mirrors that let us see things about ourselves that we cannot quite understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/substances-are-like-mirrors-that-let-us-see-things-about-ourselves/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [I'd like to understand why it seems normal to look at astonishing achievements made by unapproachably ambitious, luminously pious, strangely obsessed artists, and toss…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/i-d-like-to-understand-why-it-seems-normal-to-look-at-astonishing/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [It is as if only irrelevance can be promoted as art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/it-is-as-if-only-irrelevance-can-be-promoted-as-art/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [If paintings are so important - worth so much, reproduced, cherished, and visited so often - then isn't it troubling that we can hardly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/if-paintings-are-so-important-worth-so-much-reproduced-cherished-and/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [The purple light or glow, which appears roughly fifteen or twenty minutes after sunset... looks like an isolated bright spot fairly high in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/the-purple-light-or-glow-which-appears-roughly-fifteen-or-twenty/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [To a nonpainter, oil paint is uninteresting and faintly unpleasant. 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Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-lucia/from-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-was-always-fond-of-drawing/) [St. Lucia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-lucia/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. 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