Periodically we pop in helpful reminders, tips to help us do our work better, or easier. This Painters’ Keys reminds us

[b]y squinting, the eye can be made to defocus, or, by further reforming the shape of the eyeball, bring subjects into sharper focus. Also, by drawing together the eyelids like an external iris diaphragm, you see the subject as more or less reduced to black and white. When work is viewed without the benefit of colour, decisions can be more readily made. It seems that in standard easel-working vision, you “can’t see the forest for the trees.” The squint becomes a quick and easy re-evaluation technique that simply gives the artist a second opinion.

Do you have pointers to share for your art form(s)? Send them to cagac.ca@gmail.com .