The process of play and change can work in both abstract and representational art. For example, it might be possible to try to paint a horse on your panel and have it turn out perfectly the first time, but more than likely you will have to change and adjust it as the painting progresses. What we are learning to do, by learning these principles, is the ability to change all the areas of our painting so they are in strong relation to each other.

For example, the horse painted at first might be quite small. Maybe the next things we paint are trees. And possibly these trees are all the same size as the horse, because, after all, we are not sure in the beginning how big to make the trees. However, once we paint the trees we realize that the horse is no longer very noticeable. Since we want the horse to be noticed more, we have to change the horse to be larger relative to the trees. Understanding and feeling comfortable with changing our art as we go will allow our art to continue to improve throughout the whole process of making it.

Whether the shapes and marks are abstract or representational makes little difference. We want to use the principles to change and adjust any marks or shapes so that they enhance each other, so that they are in relationship to each other and together create a powerful painting.