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
There are some die-hard art critics, and artists who consider it taboo when it comes to re-working your oil painting. Somehow they think it renders the painting impure, as if it compromises the initial inspiration. Personally I think this is absurd.
Re-working your oil painting is a vital, important step in the completion of your painting, even an abstract painting. I like how Gerhard Richter will take a painting into a completely different room to view and analyze the new painting, and to see what further needs to be done. I understand that in severe cases he will abandon the painting because it just did not achieve what he had hoped. But we are not in that stratosphere, are we.
I have found that even an abstract painting will have within it a certain emphasis, impulse, rythmn or cadence. By looking at these and understanding them, studying them, these often become even more apparent than when first conceived. Initially the entire painting is being rendered and it is impossible to fully create critical emphasis. Going back however two or three weeks later and setting it on the easel to study, the forms and cadence tend to come forward. It is these that we want to enhance and reinforce. This needs to be done carefully of course so that any new addition is in concert with the initial thrust of the painting. I tend to look towards the areas that need greater contrast. Perhaps a tone or color is too weak. Sometimes a line is not distinct enough. Very often I realize that a painting was in reality only 85% complete. By carefully augmenting the painting and discovering more fully the intent of the piece through study, the painting becomes more fully complete. This is a satisfying process and one that I strongly endorse, especially with oil paintings.