Practice

To repeat an action or process to acquire or refine a skill, or to improve ones abilities in an art, a craft, or other pursuit. Or, to do something as an established custom or habit."Practice" can be a noun as well: something a person does repeatedly, whether to improve or to do what one does customarily, habitually, or professionally. Writers occasionally refer to what artists do as their practice: "Duchamp's practice" or "Picasso's studio practice." Some prescriptivists have criticized this usage as pretentious. The stronger tradition is to speak of the practices of physicians, lawyers, and dentists. Those professionals must have licenses in order to practice. They are white collar, and less messy. Speaking of an artist's "practice" is somewhat comparable to speaking of an artist's "production"; art making. "Production" appears to be redeemed its association with industrial labor."Practise" is the British spelling.Quote: "Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen: even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind." Leonardo Da Vinci (c. 1445-1510), Italian artist. See Renaissance. "[What you know about drawing isn't] worth a hill of jelly beans without daily practice. Some brilliant thinker once said practice makes perfect. Well, I say, 'Practice makes drawings look totally 3-D.' Cool! I'm very profound at times." Mark Kistler, American TV artist / instructor. "The Twelve Renaissance Words of Drawing in 3-D," 1997. Also see art careers, contour drawing, gesture drawing, practitioner, teacher, and technique.