All you ever wanted to know about painting

Still life with the Divine Comedy. 12"x12". Oil on panel. 2013.

I am interrupting the silence of this blog to announce a new idea, for which I need your input. In fact, it will never come to fruition without your input.

Here is the thing. For some time already, I've been entertaining the idea of some sort of teaching in the domain of painting -- partly because I feel the need to share what I know, partly because I've been asked to on several occasions. Quite a few ideas for possible courses have been playing themselves in my mind, but I cannot really decide between them. So I've come to a slightly different decision: during this coming fall (starting mid-September and up to the turn of the year), I will be running an experimental series here. The working title is "All you want to know about painting", which means you can ask me anything you want about painting, and I promise to answer to the best of my understanding. 

There are a couple of caveats, though:

1. The question can be anonymous if you don't want publicity, but the answer will be public: I'll be running this series both on Blogger and on Google+, for the sake of everyone's convenience. The assumption here is that if one person wanted to know something, there are good chances there are other people out there who want to know the same thing (but were afraid to ask... :). Moreover, it will give us a chance to engage other painters (and lovers of painting), who might give different answers to the same question (which you might like better). The more the merrier, I believe. You can ask your question by a direct message on Google+, or by e-mail, and please specify whether you want to remain anonymous or not. 
2. Although I've just said "anything about painting", I would like to specifically exclude two topics. One is the purely technical side (how to stretch a canvas, which brand of paints to buy, what equipment to use); the other is "business" (marketing, looking for representation, making a living, etc.). There are lots of resources on the internet that deal with these topics, and I want to focus on (what I perceive as) the core of painting.

By the way "technical" above should be read as purely technical as it were; questions about painting effects, color mixing and interactions, painting process(es) etc. are very welcome (if you aren't sure, go ahead and ask -- I'll tell you if the question is too technical, no problem there). And "business" is meant is purely "business": questions about life as a painter, time management, organization, etc. are welcome as well.  

On another note, I intend this series as something potentially useful both for painters (there is always something one would want to ask a peer, I think), for beginning and aspiring painters, and, last but not least, just for lovers of painting (who may or may not entertain the idea of painting themselves). This means that questions about how to look at a painting as a painter, whether there is anything "objective" about the art of painting, what to learn from a painting, how to understand why the painting works, how to make the most of a museum visit, etc. etc. etc. are also welcome, along with any questions on painting techniques, learning to paint, individual style, self-expression, colour theory, brushwork, etc. etc. In other words, my goal is not only to just answer your questions, but to understand what you are really interested in. If you question concerns your own paintings, some issues of the process, some problems you feel stuck with -- please send me some photos to look at.  

If you have followed me for a while, you might have noticed that, as far as painters go, I am rather on the "intellectual", scholarly side of the spectrum. I am interested in the interaction of painting and mind, painting and the intellectual issues of the day, painting and science (linguistics, neuroscience, theory of information, etc.), painting and history, etc. So if you have in mind a question from this (general) field, I would be most interested to hear it! 

I will be starting this series (hopefully) mid-September, but I would really like to collect some questions in advance, to have some time to think about them. So please, don't hesitate to ask, I am looking forward to your questions.