As usual, I came up with a plan for this series someplace in the middle of the process. I’ve had the idea for a series on painting style for a while, but my ideas seemed too uncoordinated for a real series. Then I had a week without a topic and… BAM! This series started. To recap, I started with a quiz to see if my readers could tell which of two paintings was created by me or another artist. Anecdotal feedback indicates about a 67% sucess rate. I concluded with the idea that regardless of having a “style”, the differences between me and any other painter were enough to negate any worry about such an ephemeral idea as style. The next week I explored subject as an element of style and ended with the worrying thought that, as the song says, “It’s all been done before.” I asked my readers to complete a survey about why they purchase art. Here are the results (this is not a scientifically designed survey.)
To paraphrase, it’s all about the individual piece for the potential purchaser.
Obviously, having someone purchase a piece is not what drives an artist to create. But if viewers can only occasionally tell my work from someone else’s AND there is no such thing as a new subject… Well, it starts to feel a little hopeless that I’m reaching anyone at all. Can anyone really say their work is unique enough and new enough as to be unmistakable?
Recently, I painted an older couple from a reference photo I took years ago in downtown Portland. This couple was striding along, hand-in-hand with their walking sticks and I thought to myself, “That’s my life goals.” Part of the reason the reference photo has languished so long is because I don’t typically paint either urban scenes or people.
I’m pleased with this painting, though since the initial haze of accomplishment and infatuation has worn off, I can see that it’s tentative and clunky. I still like it because I learned so much from it. And I really did think that was a neat couple.
So, does this piece depart from my style?
Snow on the Roof
Blue Bandana
Gismo
Rapt Attention
A Good Roll
Walk With a Big Stick
Fast Friends
Introducing the Princess
Serious Player
All Dressed Up
Pop Fly
Grab That Ring
Above are 12 paintings from “The Dogs of Minto Brown” series. Looking them over, two years since creation, I still see a continuity of style. Or more accurately, a continuity of elements.
Line – An identifiable path created by a point moving in space.
Shape – An enclosed space, a bounded two-dimensional form that has both length and width.
Texture – The perceived surface quality of a work of art.
Form – An element of art that is three-dimensional and encloses; volume; includes height, width AND depth.
Space – Distances or areas around, between, and within components of a piece.
Value – How light or dark something is on a scale of white to black.
According to my own rating of the Minto Brown series, my style runs:
- line – high (lots of hard edges)
- shape – medium (I don’t change the shapes of item much, but there are shapes)
- texture – high (lots of splatter, background)
- form – high (my work is representational)
- space – medium (the focus is not the space between elements)
- color – high (the colors are bright and unmuted)
- value – medium (while there is contrast, it is not the main focus”)
Was “Life Goals” so different? When I rate that painting against the Minto Brown series as a whole, nothing changes. All the elements of “my” style didn’t change at all, though my execution of the subject was problematic.
So, if I have a style, what’s the next step in my artistic journey?
That’s the final piece of the puzzle, and next week’s topic.
Strada Challenge – Week 2
As I mentioned last week, I signed up for the September STRADA challenge. I’m delighted to report I’m still on track.
