What is Your Purpose?

This blogs simply raises questions rather than provides answers. It will make you think. Painting last thursday with my friend Rob, we pick very different paintings then discussed them. I wanted to compare and contrast the two.
The one below is mine. I liked the historical funkyness of the truck and blend of colors. Rob, on the top, wanted to paint peace. What is better? Do they both convey what was intended? Do you want to make a similar statement or different? Therefore, my "funky" painting (my statement) conveys that to you or something else. (hopefully, not disgust). Robs intention, created by larger masses, subdued color may convey peace to you or something else. What are the purposes of art? Of course they are endless to the imagination--hatred, love, peace, condolence, mood, excitement, despair, wonder, majesty, granduer, nature, house, comfort, disgust--you name it. They can all be there.
I like excitement created by contrasting colors and unusual design. Is my design unusual? Probably not. My colors are exciting perhaps. So I can take this small study (11x14) and blow it up larger improving the design or take this as a learning time and focus on design next time. Certainly, this old truck has sloping angles, showing the age and history. But what do these contrasting paintings say to you? If you were to paint them, how would you do it?
Getting a second opinion always helps. If your unsure, ask friends, teachers, family members. See if what your trying to convey sends the message. My wife used to say, " I hate it, it makes me angry". Now if that was my intention, then great but often it wasn't and that made me critically examine my work. While untrained, she had a visceral response (a gut reaction) that was important feedback which other viewers may have. Upon relfection, the work usually had too many broken masses or angles that didn't work. I know it is hard (all of us sensitive artists have fragile egos) but if your going professional or want to improve your work, get a thick skin. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't experience some rejection from a gallery, critique, or other party. But you know what, if I use that information to improve, you can gain from it. Well, these paintings are for sale. If interested, email me. Hope your art improves and you learn from this blog and have fun. Get to some funky trucks, rusted out old heaps of metal and paint!!

Still Life

The still life is an opportunity to bring out your favorite colors and shapes. Selection comes from within yourself; maybe a flower, a doll, a lollypop, the items are endless. I am mostly traditional, especially in the piece above. I love the spout on the vase, the yellow and orange flowers. I picked the background; a mauve grey t-shirt because it seemed to work well with this arrangement. I also tried blue, pink and green-none of these worked as well as the neutral gray that I ended up with. Arangement of flowers. This is critial--try to place them in various directions, all away fron the viewers eye. In other words, right and up, left and down, middle and slightly left. Lighting is also critical. Have it to the side or backlit, not head on as it will flatten out. Show the table, put in objects at differing angles.

Unlike the landscape, this motif for the artist allows you to completely place and arrange all the objects. Put in things that are meaningful to you.I try to paint loose but your technique is your own. In either case, don't tickle a painting to death--that is stroke it all smooth, covering up your intial brush stroke. I recommend loading up the brush, making one stroke and leave it. Of course, if it is not correct, you can scrape and redo it but the point is many amateurs go over and over, obiliterating the paint, smoothing it all out. That makes for a boring outcome.

Why onions and garlic? I don't have a clue. The basket was there and I thought the onions have such an unusual color--that white yellow, green pastel type colors make for a challenging oil painting. I played with greens, gray, pinks and various shade. I like the russian painters who painted garlic that I have seen in Carmel. The red orange flowers were exciting for me to paint, along with their sense of light. Look for my new U tube movie on oil painting. Should be out by July 15th.

The Value of Detail

I know, youre asking yourself, what is a impressionist painter like you talking about detail. The old adage you have heard in your class is when painting a bush or tree, "just block it in". Of course, most of the time that can be true. However, you can teach an old dog new tricks. According to my recent workshop with Calvin, detail adds a lot to a painting and should be used sparingly. Helps helps bring the eye to focus on the focal point. Other areas, of course, mass and blur, (soft edges) non important areas. Look at the painting above ( by the way, my wife likes this so it must be fairly good) where the leaves of the tree are individually laid in. It draws the eye twoard the boat (center of interest). Converesly, the background trees, above right, are all soft edges, grayed down without detail. It sends it in the distance in contrast to the dark leaves nr boat. The dark leaves come forward.

Such movement in and out, forward and backward should be in your thought or strategy as you develop your painting. With the use of detail, you can creat this in your painting. What else do you see in the painting that attracts your attention? One I see are the two figures. These are what I call secondary points of interest. I keep them loose and suggestive, very little detail or the painting would have a tendency to ping pong, bounce the eye back and forth--somthing you want to avoid. Well, write me and let me know if your learning anything or your paintings are improving. I am interested.

Creating Tension

This painting, measures 20x16, has one theme or idea--tension. The bow of three boats intersect, one source of tension, but the more obvious source are the two fisherman. I constructed these to pull in opposite angles. Of course, they are doing something--more interesting than standing stiff and upright, one of my pet peeves in figure painting. What do you see of interest?

Secondary interest points might be the background where light is suggested and very high key compared to the dark green boat. There are clashing colors as well with cools and warms. Also note the big shapes-I tried to place outstanding loose color in complimentaries. So contrast in shapes, color and figures help to make this painting interesting.

Something I have not used is edge variation--soft and lost edges that could be employed to make this even more successful. Also the pink hi key water is unusual from the more common blue or green water. When you use unusual color in an area you will create interest-the viewer will have to compute and think--either this is damn good or terrible but it least it makes them think--that is good so use unusual color schemes whenever possible.

That is about it. I am tired from a week workshop with Calvin Liang. Very good stuff and I recommend him highly. Next time I will discuss color theory with Munsons color wheel.

Persistense-Keeping dogs around

Ken Backhaus,a member of the Plein Air Painter of America. once told me to keep my bad paintings around, I will learn more. The painting top left is one that sat around in my studio over a year. There was a third boat in the middle, making it cluttered and the sky was the same tone as the boats-hence they got lost. In other words, the painting had a lot of problems. Successful art may mean working out a bad design. I am not sure why it took so long but it turns out to be one of my favorite paintings. After I eliminated the middle boat and lightened up the sky-bam, it worked. Everything fell into place. The advice for this column is that if you did a painting that isn't quite right, keep it around for a while, maybe you can work out the kinks.

Of course, you can ask friends or a teacher how to improve it but sleep on it, ask yourself what it needs;play around with some paint telling yourself no big deal, if it doesn't work, you can wipe it off and start all over again. That is the luxury of oil paints compared to watercolor which is a do or die thing. The second part of the lesson is persistence; if something isn't quite right, hang in there, maybe you can salvage it as I did. If you don't succeed at first, try try again. I knew the statement I wanted to make but I wasn't doing it then I started to ask myself, "what can I so away with?" What do I love the most? I knew I liked the lower right boat very much. The upper left one had the figure, so I wanted that. Thus, the middle one was gone.Then came the light in the sky, everything began to pop and that was what I was looking for. I can analyze why this painting works but I want to address the intangible-feeling, that a painting may have something you can't put a finger on. One of my dead mentors was Sergei Bongart. I heard one of his students tell me the story when he was shown a very technically correct painting and compared it to a not very good one and he liked the later better. My friend asked why, he said cause the second one has feeling. This is why the Russian impressionists are my favorite--there is passion and feeling in their work. Is strive for this and I invite you to do the same-your work will improve and connect with other people more.

Perhaps that isn't something you thought of before. Lot of people who like my work say it speaks to them, has bright colors. Hopefully it has feeling in it too. Anyway, ask yourself what you feel upon looking upon a painting. If you are reading this blog, you like my work for some reason. I try to put mood or feeling in my work, making it alive.

Design-Uneven Intervals

Greg Albert has written a book on design that deserves mention. His main idea that everyone can remember is no interval should be the same. With this dictum, you can make your paintings stronger. In the Santa Barbara ranch house on the left, you will find a line showing the uneven distribution of lines with the mountain, orange tree (focal point) and dark foreground oak tree. Note the placement is uneven in all respects, including mass size. According to Greg, a painting needs a focal point and a focal area, the former should be the brightest colors and sharpest edges. The Ranch House meets this criteria and the dark oak? Well, that is known as a foil, a device designed to add perspective. It may have been there or I made it up, I can't remember now but it adds an interesting element to the painting.

The coastal rock painting is another example of good placement of masses and line design. The strong dark sharp on the right is one line, distinctly angled differently than the mass on the left, in light. Notice the simplicity in design, this painting is large, 20x24, but effective. Other thoughts in good design--what is the statement? In coastal rocks it is sunlight. In Ranch House, it is mountains. Although the viewer may have different views, at least this was what I had in mind at the time of the painting. Sometimes the statement will be colors, or grandeur or peace and mood. Of course, it can be anything but let your painting state one idea.

Lastly, why do you paint? To create, to fill in time, because you're still in childlike state wanting to play? Is it a calling from higher up? I have toyed with this question since reading Richard Schmid's blog years ago. I know several days without painting and I go slightly insane , blubbering to myself like an idiot. Seriously though, it might be useful to identify your motivation. One time, I went without painting for weeks and I dreamed of eating cad yellow and cobalt blue--after all, they are delicious colors aren't they? Well carry on, if you got something from this, comment. I would like to hear from you.

Building a Taboret

After several days of tough manual, skilled labor, my taboret is completed. I did mine in Maple, a hard wood that will last and not ding or sag easily. One of my mentors, Brian Blood, who was gracious enough to send me his plans, had this in oak and I loved it. Picture this, all the room for oil paints, big pallet (18x30 or 40 if you want). Shelving underneath for extras, nice open draws for tubes and brushes. This is the quintessential accessory for your studio. It took about 80 bucks in wood and screws and , of course, a home styled carpenter (me) so if you're good with your hands and have some power tools, make it yourself. Otherwise, I have the plans above or can email them to you so your friend or hubby could do it.

Be mindful that Taborets cost from 400 to 3000 so this is an expensive equipment but if your painting big, like I am, something like this is a necessity. Another teacher, Terri Miura has a smaller version ( his is shorter than me, I am six foot) that is about one third mine so you can modify it to suit. I like the large brush washer to the right and have added ( not in pic) a lower shelf and paper towel holder.

Welcome to new (friends) fans and hope you learn from this blog. I will discuss motivation later, but I am in a funny funk. I did really well in my last show, ( Indian Wells, ca) so I don't want to paint from fear that I can't do that good again. Usually, I am in a funk because I did so poorly, whats the use (hopelessness). Anyway now I have such high expectations of myself, I am nervous about not doing really good art. Go figure, I am like a yo-yo inside-a typical melodramatic nut. It was really nice to get away from art and build this table for myself--A complete distraction.

If you're like me, you an art addict, at it every day, new ideas, creating, fun. But I have also been pushing myself to improve the last few months, studying from other artists, etc and my bar is really high now ( and so is the pressure). I will return to painting today but what frustrates me is I want to bat 1000 percent. It just doesn't work that way ( meaning I want all my paintings to be a success). Charles Movalli, a painter back east once alluded to the outcome of successful art being one in twenty. So okay, I am not perfect and no artist is ( even Monet had paint overs). I must accept that and move on and be ready to wipe off failures. I don't have clue what this does to building taborets but it is a nice side topic to discuss. Perhaps you have issues like this. Please comment, I would like to get a dialogue going so we can discuss these issues and all learn and grow to become better artists. The beauty of cyberspace is that we are a artist community--around the world-- and can help each other.