Another full day today! Besides the art, we have class dates through the end of the year. And we have another one of our artistic discussions; this time, we try to define what makes a good painting. So, without any further ado, let's get started.
We're still all about portraits, from Vivian's monolithic painting (he just looks large and important, doesn't he?)...
... to Sara's study of the second person in her dual portrait. We love the glasses! She's certainly ready to begin the final painting.
... to Melissa's portrait of a young victim of gun violence for the
Faces Not Forgotten project. Enjoy this now as she'll probably be mailing this off before our next class (see last week's post or the link above to find out more). We hope she manages to get a picture to share with us first.
Ellen added the final touches to her sweet portrait of two flower girls. The striking contrast between the fluffy tulle and the richly textured dark background guides the viewers' eyes right to the subject.
Elaine's dual portrait is another study in contrasts—the ages, head sizes, facial orientations and even the skin undertones of the sitters. Here's where the "match your skin tone" exercise would be useful...
... unlike Glen's painting below. Yet this tour de force captures the feel of Clown White makeup perfectly and hints at the real skin beneath. Look at the composition, the triadic background, the subtle vignetting and the texture of the hair and hat. I have to say it—I am afraid of clowns, yet these two fascinate me.
No skin tone on Steve's merman yet, but zoom in to see another textural masterpiece. This is a great example of Steve using a variety of techniques—but you don't notice the
technique, you see rocks, mountains and sea.
Tony eschews photorealistic texture below. Instead, he relies on line and shape to capture the essence of these swallows against a flat blue sky. We love the graphic quality of this.
You can tell spring is around the corner (we hope!). The swallows are returning to Capistrano and a Coopers Hawk was spotted in a Chicago parking lot. Bill took the opportunity to name the hawk D.B. (get it?) and paint it. The bold fresh brushwork suits the subject perfectly!
Definitely spring. Isaac adds a delicate white orchid against the rich golden background. That's a lot of modeling with a tiny touch of color!
Nicola felt the need to paint flowers too. But hers are a far cry from Isaac's subtly elegant orchids. Nicola's exuberant bursts of (complementary) color are stylized, fresh and happy.
And lest you think our newbies have skipped the exercises and vaulted straight through to still life paintings and portraits, here is the noted wet/dry/combo series by Melissa. Strangely we only photographed two of the three paintings, but rest assured there were actually
three lovely red onions.
Rosemary added a deep rich background to her still life—and now the lemons and limes positivelyt glow. The pot too, seems richly burnished and, all in all, this has the feel of a portrait by Rembrandt (except that this is citrus fruit).
In start contrast is Bill's high key seascape. He has revisited an old painting and changed the composition. He's wisely kept the moody colors, though, to really give a feel for the space and the atmosphere.
Another seascape with a totally different feel. From her vantage point on a raft, we see mountains, trees and water in China. We love the composition—and notice how well Ellen used what she learned in the "drybrush" exercise?
Ken uses some of the same elements in his abstract. The straight, clear lines stand in sharp contrast to the soft wet background. We couldn't decide if it felt like a view through a misty window (with rainbow mullions) to a building or trees, but we loved it!
Madeleine has started to add color to her urban landscape. We're already enamored with her choice of extreme perspective and now we're in love with the vibrant color choices too. Look at all the variety in the (seemingly) single color.
Question of the week. You may recall "question of the week" from year or so ago, wherein we all answered an art-related question, like "how do you know when a painting is finished?" or "how do you choose your subject matter?" Well, we resurrected that practice; today's question being "What makes a good painting?"
The responses were very interesting. Some of us cited qualities inherent in the painting itself—
Steve looks for good value contrast,
Madeleine looks for balance and
Pat mentions interesting composition. But overall, we seem to have made the distinction between a painting and "art." As
Ellen explains it, a painting needs balance and composition, but art evokes something wonderful in your soul.
Most of us feel that a good painting involves more than just the skills and techniques of the artist. There must be a dialog between the artist and the viewer. Even those of us who mentioned value and composition (
Pat,
Madeleine and
Steve) also required an emotional response from the viewer.
According to
Rosemary,
Tony, and
Elaine, a good painting evokes a feeling, emotion or response in the viewer.
Isaac and
Nicola say a good painting captures the very essence of the subject, and
Ken, Bill and
Steve say a good painting draws you in and keeps you coming back, always finding new things without getting bored.
Going one step beyond,
Glen says a good painting transports the viewer to another place. And while they are there, they are changed, according to
Sara and
Melissa, who feel that a good painting teaches or changes something—in the viewer, the artist, or both.
Vivian feels the response can include more than an emotional response; it can provoke discomfort or thought. At any rate, the viewer walks away seeing the world differently.
Quite a tall order! Yet, that's what our next assignment is. Watch us next week as we try to paint a
good painting and/or bring in one of our paintings that we consider
good. And it doesn't end there—going forward, we're going to try to bring some quality of a good painting to all our art. Keep coming back to keep us honest.
2016 Schedule. In case you need to know when we'll be in session—so you can plan your vacations perhaps?—here's our schedule for the rest of the year. We have only one more class this term—on March 5. After that, here is the schedule:
OFF — March 12, 19, 26
BACK—April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, May 7, 14
OFF—May 21, 28, June 4
BACK—June 11, 18, 25, July 9, 16, 23, 30 (Off for July 4 holiday)
OFF—August 6, 13, 20, 27, September 3
BACK—September 10, 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22
OFF—No break here!
BACK—October 29, November 5, 12, 19, December 3, 10, 17 (off Nov. 26 for Thanksgiving)
Mark your calendars! Or better yet, join us for any one of these 7 week terms. You'll be glad you did.
