N.B., Click on images to zoom.
'Rocky Outcrop'
Oil paint on Panel
A few days ago I was thinking about the relative importance of some of the basic questions that we painters ask ourselves. Particularly the 'why', and the 'what', type of question.' Such as: 'why should I paint that thing over there?'
Or the perennial question: 'what is the meaning of this painting?' And I know that the 'what is the meaning' question in particular is the one that seems to continuously exercise many artists. And critics!
(I remember a bloke once, many years ago, looking at one of my paintings, - a simple painting of a figure, - and saying that he couldn't work out the meaning. I recall feeling, a little sheepishly, that I had the same problem. I didn't know what it meant either!)
Here are the main 'W' questions :
- When to paint?
- Why paint?
- Who to paint?
- Where to paint?
- What is the meaning of this painting?
These questions can be difficult and complex to answer with any truthfulness.
And can sometimes lead us into deep water. In particular they can lead to pretentiousness, or preciousness.
I always try to keep things simple if I can, as in…………
Q 'When should anyone paint?' .........
A .............At least a few hours everyday.
(Habit being a more effective driver than the Angel of Inspiration, who may descend only intermittently).
Q 'Why should anyone paint?'……………..
A ……………Because it just feels natural.
(The doing comes first, any explanations are retrospective rationalisations).
(As I said in a previous post………"simply looking at the world around us, observing it's great beauty, and re-producing it as best one can onto canvas, is considered to be uncool - nevertheless, I choose to persist". As in the Rocky Outcrop above).
Q 'Who should I paint?'……………..
A ……………Any one with an interesting face or outfit.
(Don't wait for commissions, - the face that comes with the commission may not tinkle your bells. Very often the costume that someone is wearing (i.e., the materials and the textures, etc), can be the spur to produce a picture).
Q 'Where is it best to paint?'……………..
A ……………Pisarro suggested that an artist should be able to find enough subjects for a lifetime within five miles from their home.
(And I think he got it right, in the sense that if the painter knows the subject well, it will be a stronger painting)'.Q 'What is the meaning of this painting?'……………..
A ……………This question is the one, unless we take care, that can quickly lead to pretentiousness. Most often paintings have no 'meaning', (in the literary sense, i.e. that can be explained in words). Anyway, it can often be argued that it is better not to explain the 'meaning', even if one does exist, so that the spectator can be allowed the luxury of self-interpretation.
So I'm afraid to say that I increasingly tend to ignore 'When?', 'Why?', 'Who?', 'Where?', 'What?', and any other of the 'W' questions that exist.
Nowadays I tend to concentrate on the question that focusses the mind of all realist painters (and which is of course the most despised area of consideration by the artistic créme de la créme), i.e.,
.......the 'HOW' question.
How to paint?
or………….I can see a fantastic bit of texture on that rock over there, HOW do I paint it, without resorting to a standardised scumble or similar?
…………..a subtle light is glowing through the trees and illuminating a patch of scrub by the waterside, HOW do I make this pigment and this medium look like they are transparent and light-emitting?
………...I can see some translucent water rushing over the stones in the riverbed in a seemingly uncontrolled manner distorting the shapes beneath and reflecting the forms and lights above, - HOW can I so simplify the visual complexity of that event, to keep it as true as I can, yet without resorting to artistic clichés?
It seems to me that given that nature provides so much in the way of visual inspiration, (thus answering the all the 'w' questions I can come up with), then all my personal attempts to answer the 'HOW' questions will keep me going for many a year yet.
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Who painted this room, and what's going on in it?
(The answer will be in the next posting.)
And here's the answer from the last posting -
'Turquoise Marilyn'
by Andy Warhol. 1962
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
"One reason my paintings have become realistic has to do with my interest in what things really look like."
Robert Bechtle