painting (or other art) triggers, not copying

Forums: Art, Photography, Painting, Painting Ideas, Art Play
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I've undergone the "painting dullards" since my last show and a lot of packing, moving, and unpacking. I've been thinking more of getting back into it lately.

Saw a photo today that intrigues me, and looked up the painting it reminds me of. Well, hey, this has been done already and done well. Still, I'd like to fool around on some small canvases with the general imagery and try this out at different levels of figuration, including almost none.. just using the photo as a trigger, having long lost any interest in copying photos, even my own - not to mention being chary about copyright issues even if I did want to copy it.

What I like is the dark foreground, "something" in the foreground, and the bright evening lights in the background past some trees.

I've done one large painting with an umbrella in it in my distant past, no immediate photo for it though - and a bunch of paintings involving fog and rain, a few with movement in them. The one of those I like best is the most informal, not to say bleary, a tree in a storm.

Here's the photo that I like - it's one I'd keep a copy of even if it had different people in it - followed by the painting it reminds me of.

Then, enough about me, have you got any art ideas in the works?

from huffingtonpost.com, via whitehouse.gov - (I'm guessing it's by the official white house photographer)
President Barack Obama and members of his staff arrive for a reception April 6, 2009, at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/1371/slide_1371_19795_large.jpg

so, I checked www.whitehouse.gov, and there's a wider view of it, and it is by the official white house photographer, Pete Souza

http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/slideshows/896x504/europe24.JPG

notes from webmuseum, Paris -
Rue de Paris, temps de pluie; Intersection de la Rue de Turin et de la Rue de Moscou
1877 (100 Kb); Paris: A Rainy Day depicts an area of the Batignolles quarter.
Oil on canvas, 212.2 x 276.2 cm (83 1/2 x 108 3/4"); The Art Institute of Chicago; part of the Charles H and Mary F.s. Worcester Fund

Some of us saw this painting at an a2k gathering at the Art Institute in Chicago:

image from http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/paintings-by-gustave-caillebotte-2.jpg

So - whether I'd use umbrellas, iconic as they are, I don't know .. a little too much like copying. Or I could play with using some people and umbrellas, the people moving, and have them in a totally different space.

elements that interest me -
the rain
relationships in space between some people
movement (slow in this photo but in a painting could be stronger)
dark foreground, light background behind "barrier"
umbrellas

seems like playtime with a lot of very small canvasses.

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@ossobuco,

That is a great photo!

You already mention movement, but another thing I like is Obama's posture and all the subtle orientation towards him -- he's obviously the center of this picture. A very classical composition but seems to be a genuine moment caught, not something intricately choreographed.

I'd love to see you play with that, see what you come up with.

As for me:

Sozlet and I took a bunch of pics at the Franklin Park Conservatory when we had Penny back for a bit. I really like some of the photos of koi and the big colorful Dale Chihuly glass balls. I like how the glass balls nudge things out of the classic Japanese watercolor, how they're a little unexpected but also vibrant and interesting (i.e., I can still paint "from life" but it'd be a little more abstract/ weird).

I don't think I'll paint any of these photos exactly, but am interested in creating something from a few of them:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d130/sozobe/fishies1.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d130/sozobe/fishies2.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d130/sozobe/fishies3.jpg

(Might go back and take new photos, too.)

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@sozobe,

Oh, those are wonderful, Soz... I see your interest.

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@ossobuco,

Adds, the Pete Souza photo, cropped or not, is impeccable, I love it. And, yes, the gestures of the people in relation to each other in space, almost a dance, and yes, with a central figure. But that is already captured in the photo, so I probably would not address that - we'll see, it might just be play about light.

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@ossobuco,

My request for art assignments is actually because I want to get nudged closer to being ready to paint the koi, which I've been pondering since I took the pics. A good friend who is now a very successful artist and who I've known since high school urged me to a) get back to painting but b) start small. I'm having the hardest time starting small though. (Need to buy that watercolor paper...)

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@sozobe,

I was forced to paint small a few times, as our local museum asked invited artists to paint 6 x 8 inch canvases as part of a fundraiser auction. People did all sorts of fun things with those canvases. Me, on the other hand, I just did smaller landscapes, but they came out surprisingly well. But I love painting big canvases, say, 4 x 5 feet - you use, or at least I did - your shoulder and elbow, more arm muscles, in painting, more "action". Of course, one can stipple a whole big canvas and broad brush a tiny one, but the breadth of the canvas seems to call me one way or the other.

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@ossobuco,

I think he meant more in terms of ambition, not size per se... sketches and practice stuff before embarking on a Real Painting.

I do envision this one (koi + glass) as biggish though, maybe on the order of 2' X 3'.

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Oh, I like all the pictures. Sozobe, the last one - are those painted stones?
Enlarged it would be a great series of pictures in a hall way or study room.

When I was in Prague, I took this picture and later on had it enlarged to 20 x 30
and framed.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3682/64800303.jpg

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@sozobe,

That sounds perfect..

My thing about small canvases was more related to what I'm thinking of for myself now and not the person's comment for you starting up again. For me I'm thinking it's waaay less expensive and almost as much fun to do a bunch of "smallies" instead of working it all out on one large canvas. Besides, I have a bunch of smalls sitting waiting for attention - maybe 11 x 14's. Still, I miss the days when the guy at the local art store would build and gesso 3 x 4 foot canvases for me. What a luxury - less expensive than typical store canvases, much better built, etc., but still costly.

I still have some photos Roger sent me of the riverside area in his town.. I can see doing a lot of those. Better get my act in gear. Those photos are more appealing to me for painting than a lot of the typical southwestern sites that I see, which almost can't help but turn into touristy paintings.

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@CalamityJane,

CJane, I remember that photo, I loved it!

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@sozobe,

Those photos sparked an idea for me. It would be cool to create something that looks like the solar system's planetary system using the glass balls as planet-like images and the koi representing space travel either in the form of vehicles or beings. The challenge would be to have it be obvious that the whole thing exists in a world of water rather than gaseous atmosphere.

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I am also intrigued by umbrellas and relationships (spacing). I absolutely love the painting from the art institute!

TZ
<a href="http://www.paintideas.com">Painting Ideas</a>

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painting (or other art) triggers, not copying

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