Jim, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen
First of all, my heartfelt thanks to everyone who commented on my last post! I really appreciate that you took the time to read, analyze, and write such thoughtful comments. And so many of you, too~ This blog thing sometimes feels like a narcissistic exercise and I never really know who's reading and who cares what I have to say, much less actually give some serious thought to my ramblings. So thanks everyone!
It was interesting to see that there wasn't a consensus on which cropping worked best, though in general the inclusion of the sky seemed to resonate with many. Composition is, obviously, very important to every artist and we can talk about that in more-or-less objective terms till the cows come home and still not arrive at a single best solution. That in itself is fascinating, but even more insightful to me, are your emotional responses to the cropping of choice. I'm always interested in what triggers an emotional response and why, so your flood of commentary was extremely helpful in that sense also.
I still haven't decided what to do with the actual painting - I'm going to work on the clouds some more, and then reassess my cropping options. I'll let you know what I end up deciding!
Now on to the next painting. Here's a little figure painting from a model, Jim looked like a biker, what with his rugged and tired looks. Something I've noticed over the years, is that artists who tend to draw gesturally - as opposed to those who painstakingly measure everything and carefully render the surfaces - tend to caricaturize even when they're painting portraiture. Just ever so slightly exaggerating features that characterize a person's identity brings out the personality - or more accurately, the artists perception of the model's personality. I'm a gesture guy, so I notice this a lot not only in my own paintings, but in others as well. Without intending to, I made Jim look more like a biker-type than he actually did, and in my last figure painting, I made Emily look more like a retro TV sitcom mom than she actually did.
It must be the illustrator in me.
It was interesting to see that there wasn't a consensus on which cropping worked best, though in general the inclusion of the sky seemed to resonate with many. Composition is, obviously, very important to every artist and we can talk about that in more-or-less objective terms till the cows come home and still not arrive at a single best solution. That in itself is fascinating, but even more insightful to me, are your emotional responses to the cropping of choice. I'm always interested in what triggers an emotional response and why, so your flood of commentary was extremely helpful in that sense also.
I still haven't decided what to do with the actual painting - I'm going to work on the clouds some more, and then reassess my cropping options. I'll let you know what I end up deciding!
Now on to the next painting. Here's a little figure painting from a model, Jim looked like a biker, what with his rugged and tired looks. Something I've noticed over the years, is that artists who tend to draw gesturally - as opposed to those who painstakingly measure everything and carefully render the surfaces - tend to caricaturize even when they're painting portraiture. Just ever so slightly exaggerating features that characterize a person's identity brings out the personality - or more accurately, the artists perception of the model's personality. I'm a gesture guy, so I notice this a lot not only in my own paintings, but in others as well. Without intending to, I made Jim look more like a biker-type than he actually did, and in my last figure painting, I made Emily look more like a retro TV sitcom mom than she actually did.
It must be the illustrator in me.
2 comments:
Maybe not the illustrator in you but more projecting your perception of the model? LOL I haven't a clue but interesting thoughts on the gestural vs. anal artists. LOLOLOL I think Jim looks fabulous here. I love your style of painting, truly.
Thanks Autumn :-) One way to characterize a gesture artists is that they (that is, *I*) have no patience. LOL
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