Latest posts by michael wilson (see all)
- JORDAN RIVER - February 5, 2019
- Inspired Art - August 2, 2018
- Waiting for Inspiration - July 31, 2018
- The Bridge between Painting and Photography - July 31, 2018
Now there’s a catchy title for an Article, ‘How to stop painting’. We have all seen those 18″ x 24″ paintings so completely overworked that the very life has been drubbed out of the piece. There is no vitality because the artist had no conception of when to stop but just kept daubing on. Knowing when to walk away is vital. Fortunately I have a garden out back and I will retreat to weeding when I begin to sense that I am mindlessly daubing.
It is imperative to study your work and make some critical determinations along the way, especially when you feel that the painting is nearing completion. One excellent way to do this is by dividing up your work into quarters. If the painting is especially large and elongated you can divide it by thirds across the top and then by thirds across the bottom for six equal panels. Assuming that your work is sufficiently dry, take the smallest width blue painters tape and divide up the canvas…press the tape on lightly.
This will be an invaluable aide to study the painting by sections though I prefer to call them passages. Does the panel have its own inherent interest? Do the applied colors work well with each other? Is there vitality or a sense of energy in each panel ? I am of course primarily talking about abstract work here. Then ask yourself if the panels or passages are relating to its neighbor? Is there an implied tension between the parts? Always look to see if the principle of balance is working in each panel, and then in relation to the other panels.
Eventually as you mature as a painter it will be unnecessary to use the tape because the eye will be able to divide up the canvas by experience. You will learn to make every passage ‘work’, first within itself and then in relation to the whole. I learned from Kandinsky how to make my backgrounds (those massed areas of color behind defined forms) more interesting, more energetic and more related to the entire piece.
There is always an impetus to any abstract painting, often short-lived. It is therefore imperative to keep the painting fresh and responsive to that initial impetus…even days later. This is why we find those photos of Picasso standing for an hour before applying a critical brush of color – especially as the painting is nearing completion. I read of Sargent who would get a painting 98% and then go out to his studio for one last application of certain, final highlights that would make the final painting zing. Then he would put the brush down.