Perfection
I would add that I have been greatly influenced by Japanese art.
JL....an artist friend of mine suggested that you simply paint what you are thinking about adding on paper . This can simply be cut out and taped to the canvas with masking tape and gives one the opportunity to see if it actually IS an improvement....No harm done if it doesn't work...
Absolutely, Tomkitten is right -- put the piece away because an artist should never create while frustrated! I don't like repeatedly bringing up the fact that Monet burned over one-hundred canvases, but there it is. I'm sure by what one learns from how many paintings have been found under a finished word through X rays by masters throughout the centuries, one shouldn't feel bad about abandoning a work. Abstracts depend so much on an intuitive intelligence and if that isn't working, well -- it just ain't workin'! Above all, don't pout -- it's like writers block, only you're drawing the block!
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Oh my god, Tomkitten. Your self description sounds like one of ME. I too have a very scattered art training (both in the 1950s, in L.A. and Mexico City and some here in the last three years). Also, I began this particular painting with a pale green foundation (the result of mixing green+other colors with my gesso ground). I generally start out with a shape somewhere (with or without a broader conception in mind) on the canvas and after studying it in its context for a while I begin the "balancing and unbalancing process" with other forms/colors elsewhere. From there I proceed to add and subtract forms and colors always in response to what I already have on the canvas. It's a wonderfully enjoyable process, one in which the outcome cannot be predicted, a process of eureka discoveries, fortuitious accidents, decisions what to keep and what to "correct," etc. I'll bet this is pretty much what you do.
Perfection
I know that art posts tend to get a heavy quantity - and great quality - of responses, but I'm kind of stunned by this one. It's wandered into all kinds of fields of thought without ever totally losing the main thread.
I am fascinated by all the opinions and information; I'd no idea what a response I'd get when I tossed out this thought for people's consideration!
Shepaints, I've thought of doing that for a long time--as well as doing a "study" on my computer "paint" program which can be the basis for work on the canvas, but somehow, I can't get away from experimenting and discovering ON the canvas. It's as if what I might "discover" on paper or computer would lack something essential compared to what is discovered on the canvas. I guess I'm still an abstract expressionist (of sorts) who hasn't given up totally on "automatism" (even though my work is usually not as "painterly" as my talk would suggest). Still it's a thought I havn't given up on yet. Thanks.
I find and my artist friend in Hawaii who paints excellent abstracts that watercolor is the best medium for studies for a larger work. Two of the studies were turned into an edition of serigraphs (there was no full size original painting). He studied calligraphy and it does show in his work.
Automatism or any automatic writing is something Cy Twombly explored to the Nth degree. I have mentioned before my friend Jeanette Dubonne paints in this manner, using abstracted glyphs but her images tend to be more "pretty" than Twombly (I would definitely not say that to her!)
Agreed JL.....I have tried cutting out a coloured shape to see if I should add another object. However, painting an object on paper then painting the canvas a second time never quite captures the original momentum....
Back to the thread.....sometimes adding a "flaw"
creates "perfection"......Harrison Ford and his
scarred face for example!
The scars behind Ahnold Scwartzenegger's ears?
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LW, sound and comforting advice. Thanks.
And Shepaints, you found the perfect word: momentum. And this refers, I think, to both external physical movement, as in gestural painting, and--more importantly--to one's internal mental elan, which is an aspect of what LW referred to, if my memory serves, as intuitive intelligence. Dash and bravado are critical in abstract painting.
Ahnolds going to have his hands full keeping Maria from blowing away in a strong wind.
Perfection
I have never tried "mixed media" work - only all pastel, all watercolor, etc. But I do wonder about the loss of momentum that it seems to me could easily occur with the physical action of changing say from collage to acrylic.
Actually, although I'm open to experimentation, I doubt that I ever get into such things as collage, for the simple reason that when things go really right, the brush just goes along on its own and my hand merely follows. I admit this state of beatitude rarely occurs, but when it does it makes everything worthwhile, and any interruption or break would be unthinkable.
You really need Adobe to do that properly. The Windows program is pretty meager for anything more than touching up. There is a touch screen computer out that you can create by drawing and painting directly onto the screen! It's expensive but touch screen is coming soon on your local over-the-counter computers including laptops.
LW....I am trying not to think about Arnie's scars, but thanks for the laugh anyway.....SETE! (smiling from ear to ear!!)
I'm sorry -- feeling wicked today (got into it with Sony and Fed Ex this morning -- I would like to shoot an executive of both companies).
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Good advice, Vivien. Yes, my concern when contemplating a process where I copy from some study to the canvas IS the loss of spontaneity. Many forms have as their principal virtue a painterly spontaneous look which I pursue and would hate to give up for an idea that I'm trying to replicate on canvas.
Lw that sounds fascinating
