Realism

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Perpetual painting

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Like music

where silence between the notes sets the rhythm,

not painting is half the work.

For all artists, the most mysterious question of all might be “is it finished?” , but for the sake of clarity and the examples here I’ll just refer to painters. One popular opinion is that the best painting is one that’s finished quickly; one that retains the artist’s first fresh impressions, otherwise it should be painted over or tossed in the garbage and a new one started immediately. There are solid reasons for not lingering too long on a painting, but in matters of the Art I’m always suspicious when I hear the word should being used in a sentence containing advice. Some art rumors are accepted as absolute when they could stand some explanation. It can be confusing enough for the experienced, but especially for beginners looking for ground rules and a map to follow.
In Art though, for every should there is another option. The same suggestions don’t work for everyone. Have you ever felt guilty or embarrassed – even ashamed – because you took a painting too far? I have, but it’s only when I’ve compared my work and methods to others’ judgment that I should’ve quit while I was ahead…and guilt has no business hanging around in our daily work if it isn’t useful! (Frustration can be an excellent motivator if it’s allowed to be, but that’s another topic).
If it’s going to make sense – not exclusively the sole intention – every painting reaches stages where we need to make the call to leave it alone and say it’s finished, or proceed; stages where placing one more mark means the entire painting has to change and be brought up to par around it. If things that need correcting are not dealt with honestly, the work will not be as successful as it could be. There are phases in each painting that are truly intimidating, when painting is anything but leisurely; when we’re faced with: do we climb that mountain or not?

A lot of Plein Aire artists swear that their methods of painting outdoors on-site produce the highest quality work. The limitations of sunlight, location, outdoor temperatures and so on, mean that to finish successfully they need to splash down a lot of information within a short period of time. Doing so, when the thinking brain is disengaged and just responding to the subject, a lot of amazing unintentional surprises show up in the painting. Spontaneity and spurts of enthusiasm for being fully in the present tense can bring great results that need no further efforts at the end of the day. Plain Aire artists are in a field of their own (literally too!).
It’s a curious thing how creativity warps and reforms into amazing things when pressure is applied. Many people who aren’t artists will agree that the greatest ideas can occur when under pressure to produce them. For those who have orders to complete, at its best the challenge is like a beautiful sort of panic, where there’s an understanding of the time restrictions while fully trusting that whatever needs to happen is going to be successful. The abilities are less trustworthy when the pace and demand for finished work increases, time allotted decreases and the quality of the product diminishes. If this imbalance continues over extended periods of time, like years, sloppy and care-less habits take hold too easily. If there is work that must be accomplished though, these things can be controlled to some extent –this is one benefit of pushing personal boundaries: it puts tenacity to practice – but creativity is fickle and that’s a fact.

What has all that got to do with the question about finishing? The best paintings are not necessarily those that are finished in a few hours or a day. There are other purposes for painting besides finishing it to admire, be admired or to sell. Nothing replenishes the quality of our creative energy like being lost in the timeless, pure enjoyment of study and detail for no reason in particular. “The Zone” is like an addiction where the high is fairly elusive but we’re compelled compulsively to track it down again and again, discovering and rediscovering the source of it all. One painting could be someone’s lifetime of work.

I’m saying that if you personally feel you’d like to keep going with a painting for days or years… or never finish, then you ought to follow your own intuition about it. I’m not saying you should. I just recommend considering what other artists say, but also consider each painting as a new experience with new rules, new goals and new circumstances.
Experience, masterpiece to failure, will always apply to future work somehow. That’s the great thing about painting: no time spent searching for answers is ever wasted. It’s all recyclable material! Every decision about finishing – or not – is relative to individuality, and relative to each new painting as it develops your way.

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VAST/VACD Exhibition

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Merit Award winning Adam 11 x 14 inches graphite on paper, 21 x 25 framed will be on exhibit as part of VAST Connections running from October 3rd through November 1st. Sponsored by the Visual Arts Society of Texas (VAST) and the Visual Arts Coalition of Dallas (VACD), the exhibition will be held at the VACD Gallery in the Thompson Fine Arts, Inc. Building, 2902 Maple Avenue, Suite A , Dallas, TX. Gallery hours: Fri, Sat: 11a.m. – 5 p.m.

Portraits

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Josee, a portrait of my neice. Gift, work in progress, 11 x 14 inches Graphite on paper.

Drawing portraits is like brain surgery - one millimeter off, more or less, in any direction makes a difference.

Growing Up and Looking Back

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

Lucas at the Museum, 11 x 14 Pencil and eraser on paper, originally posted March 23, 2007 - today notified as part of the exhibition Growing Up and Looking Back – Reflecting on Childhood, Parenting, and Home at Gallery RFD in Swainsboro, GA October 12th – November 3rd, 2007.

Brittany

Friday, June 8th, 2007

11 x 14 pencil, eraser on paper

Adam

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

11 x 14 pencil and eraser on paper

Post-dated entry: Adam ,Merit Award winner, cash prize at the VAST 19th Annual Juried Exhibition held in Denton, Texas July 29 – August 23, 2007

Adrian

Monday, June 4th, 2007

Adrian - The Muddy Field - 11 x 14 inches pencil, eraser on paper, white mat and white wood frame 22 x 26 inches total size.

Alexander

Friday, June 1st, 2007

Thanks to all of you for your responses to the recent group of pencil portraits. There are things children do that we can’t help but love them for, either because you’ve had children or you were one. Except cats, most of them prefer adults.

The portraits are also practise using tones and values, something that needs more attention as a foundation to color when I return to it.