Description
Colorful original contemporary hand painted abstract oil landscape & acrylic paintings on canvas
The Landscape Painter Visits a Museum
Today: a couple of quotes. The first is by Robert Genn, Canadian landscape painter, from his newsletter last week.
“If a brilliantly good artist happens to live just down the street, his top-up of your efforts may be hard to take. That’s why it’s good to check out dead artists. The dead guy won’t let you take him to dinner or tell you, ‘There’s something wrong with that mouth,’ as several of our subscribers did with my painting of Mel, but he can show you stroke by stroke how things might be. Cruising your eyes over someone else’s work in silence and with respect may be the next best thing to struggling on your own. Art museums help artists realize they’re never truly alone.”
“The way to understand painting is to go and look at it. And if out of a million visitors there is even one to whom art means something, that is enough to justify museums.” (Pierre-Auguste Renoir)
Abstract Art Class – Winter 2012 – #3
Since yesterday I repainted the dark green to a lighter green on my abstract painting and changed one dark green circle to yellow. Everyone in class liked the white edge, so all I have to do is sign it. Oh – it really looks great hanging on a corner with the big blue circle down! Great for a kid’s room!
We used an interesting way to create an abstract painting today. Teacher gave us 3 x 5 cards with a rectangle cut out to use as a view finder and we looked at a variety of photos of paintings. The object was to use the viewfinder to eliminate all but a small area and move it around until we found a pleasing abstract. Then paint it as we saw it or alter it as we liked. Now, how easy is that for finding inspiration for a panting?
Abstract Painting from Lesson #2
Teacher gave us a sheet of paper with 12 design types of abstract paintings and our assignment was to create a painting using one of those designs. I decided to use Circles because I just think they are fun. I found some lids, plates and cups usable for templates and drew a variety of overlapping circles. The next step was to erase the pencil marks. A previous time I had used pen and was unable to cover the pen marks. This time I not only erased the not needed pencil marks, I covered those areas with gesso. Gesso works as well as white paint and is less expensive. I seem to have a lot of trouble with lines showing through.
The attached photo showed my creation, but the dark green was too dark after applying many layers to get the paint uniform. I decided to use a lighter green, but rather than apply it directly onto the dark green, I covered the dark green with gesso and then painted with a lighter green and changed one circle to yellow. There is still one more question: Should I leave the outside white? I’ll get that answered tomorrow in class and keep you posted on the final painting.
Abstract Painting from Lesson #1
The point of the lesson was to change the shapes seen in a photo. Stretch some, diminish or eliminate others and come up with an abstract painting. The attached abstract painting was done from the inspiration of a table set for dinner. The painting was painted inverted from the way it is shown here. The original photo showed fish on a platter, a bottle of wine at upper right, two glasses, and a basket with apples in the upper left of the photo. The tablecloth was white and the background black.
With alterations, the plate became enlarged, the fish became the long pink stripe, the neck of the bottle became the yellow stripe, the wine glasses are now two blue ovals and the basket might still be somewhat recognizable. The apples are pink circles. The black circles were added to hide an error, but did add some bling. Finally, it looked better hanging the way I have posted it!
Selling Landscape Paintings (Again)
Last week, Pat Weekley of Clovis, New Mexico wrote Robert Genn, Canadian landscape painter, about trying to sell art in Clovis. The art league members had conducted an auction with wine and cheese and other goodies on a day with perfect weather. Few people came and several art pieces sold for less than the cost of framing.
Genn’s answer was to note that Taos and Santa Fe are known for fine art. If the folks want it known that there is good art in Clovis, they must make better art. They must make art so good that collectors in their Caddies and Lincolns would come – and bring their own wine and cheese! Many readers gave quite good suggestions also, but the bottom line always was that the artists in Clovis needed to make better art!
Abstract Art Class – Winter 2012 – #2 (2)
The lesson today was on Design Composition. Teacher gave each of us a sheet of paper with 12 designs for abstract art – probably the only different kinds of design formats possible. For each there was an example of the basic design and a painting using that format. For me, some were easy to see, some, not so much.
The Cruciform, Horizontal, Vertical and Diagonal formats were easy to see. The Cantilever and Golden Section (at the crossed lines of a tic-tac-toe game) formats looked similar in the paintings. The Constellation format was a series of mostly dots, a little heavier on one side than the other, perhaps shaped like a spiral. Meander was more like brush strokes all over the canvas (think Jackson Pollack). Curves was shown by overlapping circles or spheres, Overlapping Frames was overlapping squares and rectangles, some just outlined, some colored. Tension showed imbalance, large on one side, small on the other. Spiritual showed an equilateral triangle within a circle. Your challenge: Try to think up something different!
Abstract Art Class – Winter 2012 – #2
Last week teacher promised to show us a method of creating texture in abstract paintings and she began the class with this demonstration. We will put tissue paper on canvas or on 140# or 250# watercolor paper and she passed around samples of each for us to feel. She also folded the 140# paper to show that 2 or 3 foldings are necessary in order to tear it successfully. Also a little water on the edge weakens it making it easier to tear.
When applying tissue to paper or canvas always use craft tissue, not the tissue used for gift wrap. Apply a coat of matte medium to the paper or canvas, wad up a sheet of tissue and put it on the surface, allowing it to wrinkle in many directions. Be sure to cover the entire surface, using more tissue as needed. Using the matte medium again, paint over the entire surface, pasting down any loose parts. Put it in the sun to dry and it is ready for paint.
Selling Landscape Paintings
More and more artists are their own best handlers. They manage their distribution, their retail prices and their futures. Some of the current artists have closed out dealers altogether and make a handsome living selling on eBay and other inexpensive venues.
“Consignment is by far the best system,” says Robert Genn, Canadian landscape painter. “An artist’s efforts can be taken back and moved to other galleries – perhaps to ones with a more favorable commission structure.”
Particularly since the 2008 financial shakedown, Genn said he noticed that a lot more art buyers are contacting artists directly. Internet savvy and well-informed, they are people who seldom go to commercial galleries, but have a particular desire to get to know artists. They are not necessarily looking for deals. It may be that more people are trying to “think smart” these days and are like those who do their own research and buy stocks and bonds online. Maybe individual empowerment and self-management are the new normal.
Abstract Art Class – Winter 2012 #1 (2)
In this blog, I would like to expand somewhat the steps mentioned yesterday in the creation of an abstract painting. Step 1 is a detailed sketch of the view. This drawing could be done in pencil or other media. Step 1 helps you to recognize the detail, shapes, shadows and light areas that make the view interesting. You are learning to recognize the elements of the photo and how they interact with each other. Step 2 creates a “softened reality” of the drawing in Step 1. Fine details are eliminated and unnecessary shapes begin to meld with others nearby. The goal is a stylized work with a result that is still recognizable and has many similarities to the original detailed drawing.
Step 3 is where the true nature of abstraction begins to take shape. In Step 3, further simplification takes place and all semblance of recognition is eliminated. The predominant shapes take command and the lesser shapes and elements dissolve. In some situations, this could be the last step in the process. Step 4 is a full-blown personal interpretation of the elements of your design/scene/subject. The three steps previous to this final artwork help you learn ways to trim unnecessary details and clutter, to begin to express personal emotions based on the drawn designs. The freedom that is afforded the abstract artist can be very liberating and rewarding. Eventually you will be able to bypass Steps 1 through 3, perhaps doing only one quick study to lay out the design and visualize the end result. Think: examine, distill, express!
Abstract Art Class – Winter 2012 – #1
My long time friend, Thelma, stays with me in Florida for the winter. She also is a painter and together we take classes in abstract art at the Center for the Arts at Bonita Springs. Last Wednesday, was our first day of class this year, and class went something like this:
The teacher, Shirley Blake, welcomed her 12 students and we all introduced ourselves. She explained the class procedure: critique on any paintings completed since last class, lesson of the day, painting time and quick critique at end of class. She will show us a variety of methods of creating abstract paintings. We will be using acrylic paints.
The lesson began with teacher demonstrating creation of an abstract picture from a photo, and she had a variety of photos from which we could choose. The first step was to draw the general design of the objects in the chosen photo in a rectangle. In the second rectangle, enlarge some parts of the original drawing, diminishing or omitting other parts. Repeat for a third rectangle, and the picture is becoming abstract. Repeat again in a fourth rectangle and by this time, there should be no recognizable object in the drawing. In abstract art there must be no recognizable forms.