All Things Fine Art

Over the years the focus of my work has been and continues to be, representational. My preference is to express the beauty of nature and my feelings of immersion with the natural world.  As my skill and understanding of creative expression evolved my approach to creating changed. Initially, like most students, I focused on detail to replicate what I saw. It took many years for me to move from that rigid replication to the more abstract idea of suggestion. It was not until I grasped the idea of creating “something out of nothing” that my work began to take on a more meaningful existence, for myself as wall as those viewing my work.

As a student of painting, I, like every other student of art, focused on creating precise replication. That is how we all begin. Believing that detail creates a likeness we religiously devoted our energies on the minutiae of our subjects. Little did we know then that this was all wrong. As humans, we grow up with a penchant for detail. The abstract is something we learn. It requires the ability to step out of our box and see a much larger view of the world in a simple way. For most of us, it is an uncomfortable scenario and for some, a place they will never go preferring the safety of the known.

In my intermediate classes, I urge students to begin their work with exaggerated soft edges. By keeping everything soft and nebulous there is opportunity to revise, shift, and rearrange shapes until they work one-to-another. This abstracted version of the subject also helps to build (if preserved) good transitions in later stages of the painting. It is virtually, out of this “nothing” that the “something” can emerge.

The “something” of a painting, includes the areas of a subject that the eye sees when it is looking directly at a subject. The “nothing” is what we are aware of in our peripheral vision. For instance, when I look at a small painting on my easel, I see the painting clearly (something). As long as I look directly at the painting, all else around the painting, including the easel, are slightly out of focus (nothing). Try this and you will see what I mean. Do not allow your eyes to roam, because wherever you look you will see “something” thus destroying the “nothing”. It is essential that you be aware of the “nothing” of nearby objects without looking directly at them.

Keep in mind, in a painting, the soft edges of peripheral objects or areas is what gives the importance to the subject the artist wants the viewer to see. The yin yang of definition vs. non-definition is what directs the eye and is virtually responsible for the poetic beauty of a painting. Until the student grasps this idea their work will continue to have a fake look, one where each object and area of the painting looks pasted onto the canvas.

As I work through the process of a painting, I continually mentally repeat to myself, “something out of nothing”. This constant reminder helps me to keep nebulous areas, where one thing merges into another without definition. The eye of the viewer is not drawn to them but they are the glue that holds the entire message of the painting together. In this way, they have, without a doubt, one of the most essentially important jobs of a painting. Their existence, or not, are responsible in good measure, for the mastery or failure of a work of art.

When you look at your paintings, look for the “nothing”. If it is not there in good measure, you know what you must now work towards to create mastery in your work. We are about to begin  a New Year. Today is a good day to start with “nothing”.

Happy New Year folks,  and great painting in 2018!